Interlude With A Vampire
by Zosie
Summary: Bella Swan's truck breaks down in the middle of nowhere at night and leads to one of the most fascinating encounters of her life. VERY M. Adults only, Vampire Sex.
1. Chapter 1

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 1

Bella Swan sighed and rechecked the last chapter. Ghost writing was far from the occupation she yearned for but these days, there were not many publishers willing to even give a new talent a go. And she knew anything she wrote was far superior to the crap she was wrestling to bring into any semblance of order after this hack had thrown another so called chapter at her and ordered her to ' fix the crap out of it'. If she fixed the crap out of it, it would be a pile of blank pages. She turned the chapter facedown and read the next almost incomprehensible jumble of words.

Now, for God's sake, how to salvage something from this mess and keep it slightly recognizable as the work of Victoria Jameson.

How that bitch had become an international best seller was beyond Bella's understanding.

Oh yeah, wait. It was solely down to the fact she sifted through the shit and managed to turn it into diamonds. Yet her name appeared nowhere.

Victoria had been a great writer back in the day but too much fame too soon, and the bottomless pit of money thrown at her, had allowed the woman to indulge in a few undesirable habits and fry her brain and by now, she was lucky if she could utter a complete sentence with words of more than one syllable.

She drank but not so much because she was an alcoholic as because it excused her lack of diction. If everyone assumed she was merely plastered, they didn't question how she kept churning out her romantic novels that were fought after and sold out in days of their release.

Her descriptions had turned vague years ago so Bella had a free hand guilding the lily of the Prince Charming in question and she merely wrote down the qualities her own ideal man would possess.

He would be tall, nobody likes short men, not really.

He would have amazing eyes, because eyes are the windows to the soul.

Maybe green. Hazel was too ordinary; brown, like her own, far too boring and everyone gave their hero blue eyes.

Green it was.

Emerald, jade, sea green.

Piercing.

The jawline would be almost sharp, pronounced, manly.

The cheeks long and shaped but no cute babyfat.

He was ALL man.

Hair. Hair. Fuck, not blond again. Surely the women who loved these stories were sick of platinum blond. The last four books featured men with unbelievably blond tresses.

Red? Nah, not red. Red wasn't hot or sexy or desirable and Romeo had to be all that.

Maybe brown with a hint of copper.

Soft, his hair had to be soft, like a baby's, because 'his hair was coarse and strong' just made her think of someone over 40 and her hero was never that.

He was eternally young and beautiful.

Long fingers.

Her eyes started to glaze over.

Wake up, Bella and stop putting a non existent man's long fingers to good use by proxy with your own hand. You have writing to do.

She was tired and hungry and her father would be looking at the clock every five minutes and drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair as he watched the game on the flatscreen.

She should call it a day and go home.

Dominic/Damian/Diarmaird would wait for his name to be decided on and revealed tomorrow and damn it, if she had to live this celibate sexless existence, so did he.

She was flesh and blood, he was ink and paper.

He would come into his own as the chapters went on and he would get to stick his massive throbbing member in many gorgeous women before the happy ever after when he woke up and realized random sex with hot wild women was wrong, what he wanted was love.

And staying with one single woman for the rest of his life.

Sure, because men were like that. So willing to give up endless random pussy for a woman who got a headache 29 days of the month and then begrudgingly fucked him when there was no other alternative.

Sex was so over rated, she was sure and hopefully, one day she would be that woman pushing away her future husband's wandering hands if it wasn't day 30.

She packed up the scribbling's from her once talented boss and locked them in her briefcase and turned out the lights. Maybe she could just drop in at Pizzarama and grab some takeaway. Charlie just wanted to be fed, he didn't care whether she spent hours working on a masterchef recipe from scratch or just got something commercially made. He chewed it all mindlessly and just wanted to fill his belly.

She'd no sooner ordered pepperoni and meatlovers on thin crusts when a gaggle of small girls arrived with a harassed looking mother and their outfits reminded her, it was actually Friday.

Ballet night.

She glanced at her watch. How the Hell she had let her best friend Alice talk her into teaching a bunch of little princesses how to dance was beyond her own comprehension. She had the theory Alice was a witch. The woman just seemed to make the favor she wanted sound like your own idea and like the very thing you longed to do anyway.

Well, it was true the one place on Earth that Bella was not the world's clumsiest person was when she danced, so perhaps her own ego needed the boost. Watching herself in the mirrors surrounding the room reminded her, for a little while at least, she was as graceful and dainty as the bird her own name came from.

She was The Swan.

"Cheers, have a good night yourself," she answered the spotty teenage boy who handed the two warm white flat boxes to her. Grease already started to darken the cardboard and Bella held them away from her body.

She had enough housework to cope with without soaking away grease stains.

Charlie grunted as he took the plate from her and mindlessly started stuffing the slices into his mouth and Bella turned on the oven and left the rest in to keep warm.

Jacob would be here any minute. He liked to imagine he was gaining Brownie points by coming to sit with her father while she danced, and showed little girls how to point their toes as they clung to the barre for support.

He may think he was earning the fee for invading her panties, so who was she to enlighten him she was just glad somebody else came to amuse Charlie once a week and let her leave with an unburdened conscience.

One day he would start complaining _surely by now _he had earned entrance, but bad luck, Jacob Black.

He was not going to be her first if she had anything to say about it.

Of course, there were few contenders for the honor in this backwater.

Mike Newton?  
>Bella struggled everytime she considered the man. His parents were lovely, his sisters adorable but he kissed like a frog.<p>

Stood to reason he probably fucked like one too, despite all the practice he got with Jessica and Lauren.

God knows how either were still unaware of the other, he was pretty blatant when he took one of them out to dinner and smirked his sleazy smirk and winked at the waitresses like they too, could be as lucky as the girl under his arm. Not one single waitress had ever winked back or taken him up on his kind offer, and really, Bella was pretty damn sure she would never get that desperate either.

Who did that leave? Eric, Tyler, well, sometimes she wondered if those two actually helped each other out, if you know what I mean. They were always greeting one another with such enthusiastic hugs you had to wonder. And they kept up the contact for hours, a hand on a back, a pat on the shoulder. She almost wanted to scream at them 'get a room and get it over with'.

If a famous actor greeted a female like that, you would nod your head. Yep, they are fucking.

The only decent men lived in that Cullen house, but Bella had no doubt none of the three 'brothers' would ever look her way.

Emmett was loved up with Rosalie, Alice and Jasper were as inseparable as Siamese twins and Edward clearly saw his pretty self as too good for the likes of any mere female here in Forks.

He must go further afield to fuck, she reasoned.

The girls were in high spirits and the class actually buoyed Bella's own spirits and she was screaming along with "The Gaga", she was indeed on the edge with her, as she drove home.

What the fuck!

Bella had lived in the same house all twenty five years of her life and she had never missed the turn into their street before.

Where was her brain?

She blushed bright red in the darkness, even though nobody was there to see her embarrassment at the blunder.

Damned Lady Gaga, distracting her.

Oh well, once around the block it was. It was easier although further but she hated doing 180's in this old red clunker. And it was a nice clear night.

The road was surrounded by thick green trees and she searched with her eyes for the friendly moon, it should be peering through by now.

Oh, yes, there it was.

The truck suddenly coughed, jolted once or twice and stopped.

Fuck me, she hadn't gotten gas.

Could she been any more basically stupid tonight?

Maybe if she just sat here inside, someone would come along and drive her to the gas station in town? But how often did anyone ever drive down this road? It led away from town, and the only house for miles was the fancy Cullen estate. It was hardly likely any of them would be out this late, they all had each other to keep them warm in their beds and if she had been the partner of Emmett, Jasper or indeed, Carlisle, it would take a Hell of a lot to lure her from her bed anytime at all. She'd probably make staying in said bed her life's work.

Edward was probably off in Seattle banging some hot chick, or maybe two. He looked like he could handle more than one woman at a time. Such a very masculine, beautiful man.

Bella frowned at the sudden realization that the new hero in Vic's story actually looked exactly like Edward Cullen.

Fuck, how had that happened? It had snuck right up on her.

Oh wait, he had those freaky eyes. Brownish gold by day, black when he was irritable. The man should eat more. Hunger made him angry and he would flash those eyes at you and look like you were something to eat, for God's sake.

Yeah, wouldn't mind getting 'eaten' by that mouth, Bella thought and felt herself dampen.

Well, she was probably going to be sitting here for hours, maybe she should ease her own tension. She searched the glovebox for any of her plastic friends but for once she had remembered to smuggle the latest version inside as soon as she got home from her shopping trip last week.

Damn.

Fingers it was.

She slipped her red lace panties down and off then grazed her fingers along her slit.

"Fuck, so wet for me," she groaned, then laughed.

One day, some man would be saying that to her and saving her this bother.

She shut her eyes, and pictured Dominic/Damian/Dairmaird in her mind and set him to work. Of course, his eyes changed color and became almost black and she sniggered a little. Edward Cullen might not want to fuck her but she would give the lad the night of his life, if he just invited her into his bed.

No, way better on the beach, under a sun that got hotter than this pathetic orb here. She could almost hear the crash of waves on the shore as he ravaged her body when the door suddenly ripped away from the cabin of the truck and a blur of darkness grabbed at her, and she was flying though the night air.

"Fuck me," she screamed and heard a deep velvety voice reply.

"I fully intend to."


	2. Chapter 2

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 2

Bella shut her eyes as the forest flew by so quickly she completely lost her sense of balance. She assumed she was dreaming or maybe the 'special cigarettes' really did have a cumulative effect like her father had warned her over the years. Being twenty five and a virgin and rarely dating had led to a couple of bad habits but she knew better than to ever use anything stronger than weed. Victoria was a constant reminder of what a more varied habit led to. But clearly the damned cannabis had fucked with her brain and she was hallucinating that she could fly.

And she twitched at the sound of the voice replying, because she knew there had been nobody anywhere nearby on that road.

The moon hid itself behind a cloud and the entire world went pitch black. But at least she was now still, standing on the ground, alone, God knows how deep inside the forest and God only knew how she had really gotten there.

Well, if she thought she flew here, she could fly out again.

Come on, fly.

She flapped her arms, feeling ridiculous, but that's how birds flew.

Nothing but a hint of mocking laughter from an audience who didn't really exist.

"You are not real, you aren't even here, now I am ready for takeoff. Back to my truck in three, two, one."

She did feel herself rise off the ground but her back was against the rough uneven bark of a tree and shit, her clothes were gone!

Now it was a naked flying hallucination!

"No more weed, I swear. I will never even drink again. It's soda and fruit juice from now on, I swear. Just let me fly home. Please."

"But we have some things to do that will be oh so very pleasurable," the velvety voice replied, so close to her ear that she shivered.

"Okay, who are you?" Bella asked. Might as well give this imaginary man? whatever, a name.

"You can call me Heathcliff, you know me already. My housekeeper was right, you know."

"Heathcliff? Okay, cool. Heathcliff it is," she answered, sure now it was all in her head. Who else knew how much she loved and adored Heathcliff and wished daily he was a real flesh and blood person who would walk into her life and take her for his own.

"And you are my Kathy," he murmured.

Bella's feet dangled and she wasn't sure what was keeping her up here and preventing her from falling. It was far too dark to see although her eyes constantly blinked and tried to adjust to the darkness. She looked up at the night sky which was lighter than the black surrounding her and tried to find the friendly moon.

Even it had deserted her.

"I just want to try one thing," the imaginary lover whispered and Bella's body tingled. She wondered if she got to choose what that one thing might be?

Cold lips brushed her own and she automatically bit her lower lip. Gentle lips teased against hers and she felt that lower lip be taken possession of and sucked inside Heathcliff's mouth.

He tasted as good as he smelled, but then, it was her hallucination. She was hardly going to give him bad breath.

Her mouth was released and she heard her lover deep breathing, like he was regaining his control.

"I need to taste you properly. Is that all right, my Kathy?"

"Um, sure," she answered, puzzled. Taste her properly? He wasn't going to eat her was he?

"Oh God, OOOOh God," Bella screamed as an ice cold tongue licked and tasted her **there.**

"Oh God oh God oh God," she heard her own voice change from shock and panic to a soft moan.

"Ooooh God,yes."

It was as if someone had filled her most secret place with ice cubes and they were moving and oh God, sucking, and licking and her body was screaming louder than her mouth as every cell seemed to gain a life of it's own. It was as if this icy cold was alive and it was searching her body for something...

The cold against her heat was tantalizing and she felt a weird buzz between them, between his tongue and her naughty bits.

It vibrated and teased and made her feel so fully alive she feared she would explode and disappear in a state of cosmic bliss.

"Oh yes, yes," she screamed as she felt her body reach the peak and shake in a way it had never done before. The orgasm seemed unwilling to end, not that she wanted it to, but this is insane. The cold thing was keeping it rolling over her body and she writhed against it and grabbed at the air in front of her and felt soft silky hair on a head between her thighs so she grabbed on tight and ground him into her.

My God, her imagination was so damned superior to Vicki's, none of that woman's words had ever made her implode and wonder if she still existed, in any form.

The wave crashed over her and slowly passed and she flinched as a cold tongue started cleaning her sex and the soft moans that replaced her screams were not coming from her mouth.

"Ambrosia, nectar, you taste so amazing, my Kathy," the voice murmured as she was licked clean. Suddenly her hands were empty again.

"Thank you, you are exquisite, my favorite flavor," the voice said in her ear but way too fast to have climbed up her body. She wasn't imagining two...?

Nope.

That would just be greedy and this man, this fantasy, was quite perfect.

"May I take you now?" he murmured with a subtle desperation.

"Yes, please," she replied eagerly and wondered if it would be possible to get another taste of that implosion.

He entered her slowly, gently, hands on her breasts but she was lying down now, on soft mossy ground and the bark at her back was gone, replaced by something firmer.

Oh God, speaking of firm.

She knew from her own writing that every woman wanted firm and large but he was beyond even her imagination, as weird as that seemed because he **was** her imagination, wasn't he?

He pushed inside in inches, waiting for her body to stretch and adjust and the coldness in her heat felt good and there was no pain, no tearing, no horror as she had been warned so many times by the girls. Jessica had made it sound like everyone's first time was an assault almost and this was not that. He paused and kissed her throat and she felt that rough tongue lapping along her neck and he moaned again, like he could barely contain himself.

She reached for that baby soft hair and ran her fingers through it, trying to imagine if he was as blond as the last books' hero, or maybe he had jet black hair ? Or maybe even brown with copper tinges? She decided she liked that alternative and scraped her nails against his hard scalp and he moved his head against her hands, like a pet would when you patted it.

He was not quite a man, he was something more, though what that could be was a mystery.

Why had she made him so feral, so almost animalistic? Surely she wanted soft and gentle and thoughtful and kind. Surely she wanted flowers and chocolates and dinner at a nice restaurant?

She moaned as he started to move inside her and she knew what she wanted. She wanted this, exactly this.

Her body pulsed and molded around him and she felt tender kisses replace the desperate ones of before, and she felt his hands cup her breasts and then cold lips were on one nipple and that tongue was swirling and sucking and oh God.

There it was, starting again, deep in her belly.

That tightening, that feeling of being overwhelmed, of her pleasure being in his control.

He was moving in and out of her in long, smooth, slow strokes and she writhed against him, needing more, needing that tsunami back.

"God, oh God," she cried into the darkness and he was suddenly moving faster, thrusting harder, hitting both a place she didn't know existed inside her and also a place she was familiar with, but her hands had never made it sing like this. Her plastic friends had never, never...

"Heathcliffffff" she screamed as it hit and took her over the edge again and he grabbed her suddenly, his hands firm and almost painful, his fingers digging into the flesh of her upper arms then her hips and he gripped her tight and closer to his own body and suddenly he withdrew and exploded into the air. She felt the icy stream leave him and hit the tree trunk to their right and pour away. Thank God he had kept his wits and not risked impregnating her because she hadn't thought or cared at all.

Contraception had no place in fantasy.

He pushed back inside her and she felt his coldness ease the sting of pain his leaving had caused.

His lips were suddenly at her throat, seeking, licking, sucking and she felt the graze of his teeth.

"Mine."

They lay together, locked in an embrace, and she felt his fingers trace down her back to her backside, up again, around the front. Down her torso, across her breasts, down her abdomen, up again, and then icy touches felt the spot where his teeth had been. He kissed her there, for a long time and she felt the iciness of his mouth soothe the fire of the bite.

"You shouldn't have been doing that. In the truck. I could smell you. You excited me beyond my control.

I didn't hurt you, I didn't kill you," he said in wonder. She almost objected when she felt him withdraw again from her body. He was still hard, still erect even though she had felt him stream beside her. She felt the blood, trickling down, so that part was true then.

He drew in a deep breath and pulled away, almost snarling.

Then he was between her legs, and she felt him shake as he licked her clean, his moans puncturing the silence of the forest.

He jerked back and suddenly the very air around her was empty.

Bella knew she was completely alone again and she sat up and ran her fingers through her own hair.

Wow.

If she put this encounter in Victoria's next book it would sell a million. But did she even have the words and anyway, this was not what sex was like. She had written a hundred first time scenario's and none had featured cold and tantalizing within hot and needy.

They had cancelled one another out and it had felt so warm, so right.

"Bella! Bells!" a frantic voice yelled and she jumped to her feet. Crap, now somebody had arrived to rescue her. But thank God it hadn't been earlier.

The undergrowth rustled and feet pounded louder and Bella looked at the light that was coming closer and expected to see a dog or maybe even a wolf but suddenly there stood Jake, wearing only a pair of cut off jeans.

"Bella, are you okay? Where are your clothes? Were you...attacked?" he cried in horror.

"No, God no, I just...I think I have hypothermia. You know, like when you get lost in snow and your brain tells you that it's hot and you strip off naked. I was imagining all kinds of things. I should dress."

Jake's eyes narrowed and darkened and she suddenly felt very naked and self conscious as she grabbed at the clothing scattered on the forest floor. Her bra, torn but wearable. Her blouse was shredded, useless.

"Jake, turn around, leave the light," she begged, and he licked his lips but complied, slowly tearing his gaze from her naked body as she struggled to find something to wear.

Her skirt was intact and she slid it over her hips and shivered in the cold. Then she saw the clothing that was not her own and she picked up the large Tshirt and slid it on, and the grey peacoat and shrugged her arms inside. Her boots and socks were on the ground so she sat and pulled them on and glanced to make sure Jake was still looking away. Her panties were gone and she blushed, remembering she had removed them herself, in the truck.

Wonderful.

No doubt Jake had found the empty truck and seen the red lace panties on the seat. How much more embarrassing could this be?

"I'm ready," she announced and he turned and walked to her, folding his arms around her and kissing the top of her head.

"Bells, what happened out here?"

"Nothing Jake. I was smoking up and I kind of tripped out a bit and I guess I wandered into the forest..."

He sniffed at her and pulled back sharply.

"Those clothes, they aren't yours."

"No, some hiker must have dropped them here. Lucky for me, I seem to have lost my coat and my blouse is wrecked. I guess I was having some sort of fit. I promise, I'm never touching weed again. This was too weird."

Jake frowned and held her at arms length.

"Bella, I can smell him on you. Which one of them was it?"

"Which one of whom?" she asked, frowning. "I was here alone."

"Fine, have it that way," he barked at her and grabbed her hand, pulling her along roughly. She tripped and stumbled over roots and brush and barely managed to stay upright.

"Jake, do we have to run?" she cried in fear, sure she would fall and break a leg if he kept this pace up.

"We have to get you out of here. Did he bite you?" he demanded and Bella's hand went to the side of her neck where she had felt his teeth, and her body shivered at the intimate moment it recalled.

"No, he didn't bite...Jake, I said I was alone. Why don't you believe me?" she yelled.

"Because you stink of him. Nothing could cause that stench other than one of those."

"One of those what? Imaginary people? Because the only company I had was in my head."

"I suppose in your haze of pot, you suddenly had an adrenaline rush that gave you the strength to rip this door from the cab of your truck?" he sneered, stopping at the side of the road.

Bella looked at the twisted metal and bit her lip sharply. What the fuck? Only some form of wrecking machine could have done this.

She shook her head and searched with her eyes all over the seats, but no telltale scrap of red lace was there.

"I need my purse," she said and leaned inside, grabbing the bag and checking everywhere. She didn't want to have to explain to whoever towed the remainder of her truck why her panties were on the floor.

"What are you looking for?" Jake asked impatiently.

"Um, my keys."

"These?" he queried, opening the driver's door and taking them from the ignition , holding them up in front of her.

"Oh, yes, sure," she answered distractedly.

Where the fuck were those panties?

She glanced at the condensation on the drivers window and gasped slightly.

_Thank you, Kathy. I kept a little reminder. I hope that's okay. Be Safe._

She straightened up and hoped Jake had not seen the window, as he slammed that door closed.

Bella slid inside the truck and pretended to be checking out her reflection in the rear view mirror as Jake marched back to his own car, and she reached across and wiped the writing away.

X~x~X

The trip home was pretty tense. Jake was clearly furious and not convinced for a single moment that Bella had been out there alone. He glanced at her now and then and shook his head.

"We will track him down and rip him apart," he promised grimly

"Who, Jake? Who are you going to accuse of whatever crime you are imagining happened to me?" she demanded.

"I know it was one of them. I don't know which one, but we will find out. And he will pay. We'll rip him apart and burn him on a bonfire," he said threateningly.

"Well, good luck with that because **I was alone.** By myself. I never saw anyone else. You are being paranoid and insane and if this is how you are going to act, then I think it's time you and I stopped being friends."

"You can't mean that," he cried in protest.

"I do mean every word. You say one single word to anyone about me meeting up with some secret lover in the forest..."

"Secret lover? Bells, tell me he didn't...you didn't... It's not natural. It's twisted and perverted. He's not even alive."

"You are making no sense. What, I'm some necrophiliac now, out digging up bodies from graves?"

"Stop it. You know what I'm talking about and he isn't a real man, Bella."

"Fuck, he certainly felt like one," she shouted, then she turned and faced the window and refused to speak despite his begging.

Charlie was waiting just inside the front door and she ran into his arms. He didn't recoil and think she smelled bad, so she kissed him quickly on the cheek and headed upstairs.

"I'm freezing, I need to take a shower," she explained and she heard her father thanking Jacob and discussing getting the truck towed.

"It's been vandalized. Teenagers, most likely. I saw a group of them running away when I pulled up," Jake said.

Bella frowned at the obvious lie. Why was Jake suddenly covering for her? There wasn't a teenager alive who could do that damage to her truck door.

She caught sight of herself in the mirror as she stripped and she walked closer. Her torso was shining like she had coated it in rainbow glitter gel. She wiped at it and it came off on the towel and just disappeared. How freaking weird.

She examined the bruises blossoming on her hips and upper arms. For an imaginary lover, there were a lot of unexplained pieces of evidence.

That reminded her and she help up her long brown hair and revealed her neck. There it was, the vague outline in silver of a mouth. Teethmarks, but the skin was not broken. She ran her fingers across it and felt a slight memory of almost pain.

She instinctively knew exactly what he had done.

He had marked her, and made her his.

**Please keep reviewing, I have to win! I'll update weekly I promise, if you do. Or even more often. Cheers, and my eternal thanks, Lynzi**


	3. Chapter 3

**SO many wonderful reviews! Thank you all so much! I'm putting my favorites up as I find them. Here's the first:**

**rockymickey  
>2011-08-11 . chapter 1<strong>

i don't like it but i review for those ones who like it

**That's the spirit,LOL!**

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 3

Edward Cullen sat in the very top of the tallest tree in the forest and closed his eyes. In his hands he clutched the soft red coat the girl had been wearing and he inhaled her delectable aroma again.

His eyes shone black and he knew it was imperative that he distanced himself further from her, or hunted.

She was Heaven and Hell combined.

His sister had warned him today would be life changing and he had laughed at her, so sure nothing in this half life could ever change.

He was regaining more control by the minute but the taste of her blood still filled his mind even if it no longer coated his tongue. He had made sure to lap up every drop and it had sent him into not the expected feeding frenzy but into a state of complete bliss.

He had not wanted to leave her that quickly but he was being overly cautious, as was his nature. Carlisle had warned him often enough should he ever taste human blood again he would revert back to the Edward of old, the vigilante, and while one may hide one's activities of this kind in a place the size of Boston, every victim in Forks would be immediately missed and searched for.

He had no intention of ever being that monster again, and he was heady with joy that he had left the girl unharmed.

Alive.

Who would have imagined that?

Jasper had slept with humans while still searching for his perfect mate, Alice, but he had never managed to keep one alive despite his best efforts.

Emmett had never kept a human girl alive long enough to sleep with her, his need for her blood had always taken over and won.

Carlisle alone had managed to do what Edward had now done but he could hardly ask him about his experiences again, now Esme had been his mate for more decades than he could count.

Back when Carlisle first created him, his 'father' had hoped in time Edward too would manage to take some comfort in the arms of willing human girls. There had always been plenty. But to Edward, it had seemed wrong and he had decided long ago to only mate with his true mate.

Now he was torn. He hardly knew Isabella Swan at all.

She had been at Forks High when he attended Forks High but they had never spoken and she was only noticed at all because he couldn't read her mind.

He had assumed that was because she was even more vacuous than the other girls and lacked imagination so he had simply avoided her, more than most.

None of the humans had ever tried to befriend the strange Cullen clan, although they knew nothing about them, they all knew they were something other.

The more flirtatious amongst them, like Jessica Stanley, had fantasized about being with him but only in a lustful human way and he had easily dismissed her, and sure enough, soon she switched the images of him touching her body to newer versions where the pale Mike Newton took his role instead.

Edward had avoided any offers of friendship, his job had been to help Alice prevent any deaths at the hand of their 'brother', Jasper, who often went off in a fantasy of his own. They were different to Jess's dreams. Jasper only lusted after the humans' blood.

Alice alone had developed friendships with the humans. Her small stature fooled their brains into assuming she was safe and no threat and Edward knew Bella Swan was a friend of his sister's, but he had made no attempts to join in that friendship.

Humans. Who needed them?

If they weren't allowed to be a source of nourishment, he had assumed they were not worth even thinking about.

Now he had taken that unalterable step and mated with one.

His instincts screamed that he should end her to protect the coven but somehow he knew already that would never be an option.

To kill something as fragrant and soft and willing would be a true tragedy and just as his body yearned to know her again, his mind longed to fill with knowledge of this small pale human who seemed so different from the others.

No-one had ever affected him in any way other than a desire to meet the occasional especially tempting one in a dark alley and drain the life blood from them. Their only attraction had always been the quality of their blood.

This girl was beguiling and it was not so much her blood he desired, but her body. And even more alluring was that silent mind. Now he had been so close to her, he knew she was not empty headed, but mysterious and uncharted. And he had to get to know who she really was.

Not Chief Swan's daughter, not the clever student who had surprised him with her high scores when High School graduated, but the real Bella Swan. The one inside her brain.

Of course it was wrong and could only end badly.

Edward watched the car drive away and shuddered at the knowledge his Kathy had just left with a wolf, no less. He had scanned the shapeshifter's mind and found two clear goals. First was the desire to keep this girl safe.

The second hope was not so noble.

The wolf wanted to take her in much the same way as Edward just had.

He couldn't appear in front of him on the road and kill him, because then she would be stranded out here with nobody to help her, and she needed this quasi human.

Edward sighed and used the treetops to have him back at the house almost before he was missed. He had hoped to enter via his bedroom window and hang up the fragrant coat for further olfactory pleasure unaccosted, but a figure was waiting on his black leather couch.

Of course Alice was waiting. When was she ever content to stay out of his business?

"I saw what you did," she smirked and he growled warningly at her.

"Are you going to tell the boys? Jasper will know, anyway, by your post orgasmic blissful mood. Emmett will probably guess, seeing you have that shit eating grin on your face."

Emmett naturally appeared right at that moment and paused, looking Edward up and down, his eyes narrowed.

"Don't tell me...fuck, you gave in. You fucked Tanya!" he crowed and Edward laughed.

"I have not been anywhere near Denali tonight. Wrong."

"Tanya's here?" Emmett asked, his eyes lighting up.

"Tanya's at home, snug in her bed with her favorite human," Alice answered quickly, wanting him to move on and come to a better conclusion.

"So, not Tanya. Who? I know Charlotte was in town last week...fuck, Peter would rip you limb from limb."

"Not Charlotte," Alice all but yelled.

"But there aren't any other vamps within...no. Not a human?" Emmett said in alarm, no doubt imagining all sorts of consequences when it got out his brother had attacked and killed a human.

"Did you bury her deep? Did you burn the body? I know it's not necessary but it's harder for them to identify the remains if you burn them to ashes and bones."

"She. Didn't. Die," Edward crowed.

Jasper picked up on the conflicting atmospheres and walked upstairs to Edward's bedroom, alone on the third level.

"Emmett? What's got you so stirred up? I'm feeling anger and despair and a desire to throw Edward to the ground and tear a limb off? Edward, I'm picking up a feeling of joy and self congratulations and...what's that smell? Have you been with a human? Did you bring her home? Are we...?"

"NO!" screamed Alice. "He did not bring home a snack and you have all sworn to never kill another human again. God, men! You all suck."

"I didn't intend going near her. I could smell her arousal for miles and I swear I just went to see what was going on. She is beautiful, like some princess. I can't believe I don't know her already."

"You do know her. Bella Swan? Chief Swan's daughter?" Alice replied crossly.

Emmett whooped in delight.

"I guess we will find out for sure if Edward is bulletproof," he laughed.

"She won't tell anyone," Alice said calmly, certain.

"I know who she is, but I don't know her at all. I , um, possibly should have told you all at the time. I can't read her mind. I couldn't at Fork's High and I can't now."

"It doesn't matter. I'm telling you, Edward, she won't tell. Anyone," Alice repeated.

"I guess she didn't have that good of a time then, if she isn't skiting like Edward," Emmett laughed.

Jasper sat down and took Alice's hand.

"How did he manage to be with a human and not kill her? Did he bite her, feed from her, at all?"

"I am right here, ask me," Edward growled. "I didn't _bite _ her, not with venom. Not through the skin. I just marked her and I'm glad I did. That damned wolf better realize what that mark means and keep his putrid hands off her."

"Wolf?" Jasper asked, and Alice looked confused.

"One of Ephraim Black's descendants. He came looking for her. Afterwards," Edward smirked.

"Too late. I'd already taken her. She's mine."

"Does she know that?" Jasper asked.

Alice shrugged.

"She doesn't _know_ anything for sure. She kind of thinks maybe she imagined it."

"Fuck me, he must be useless if she can't tell she's been taken by a fucking vampire," Emmett said gleefully. "I tell you, if I had..."

Whatever the rest of the sentence would have been was lost as Rosalie flew to his side and punched him so hard he fell over the railing outside Edward's door, and down the stairs.

"Rosie, I just meant.."

"I know what you meant. So, Edward, as always, putting his own selfish needs ahead of the family. Are there posse's forming already? Does the Chief have his minions ready to flush us out and try to kill us? Are we packing up and moving?" she asked harshly.

Edward's face changed from triumphant to worried.

"I'm not moving. I plan to see my Kathy again."

"I thought you said Bella Swan?" Jasper asked Alice.

"Yes, well, let me all introduce you to our brother. His name is now Heathcliff, apparently."

Rose looked confused and Emmett shrugged. "What? Why change your name? They will still know who you are."

"She couldn't see him. To a human, it was pitch black. She has no clue who just relieved her of her virginity," Alice growled.

"My Kathy was willing. She enjoyed it. I know that, no matter what you say. I was the one inside her body. She loved it, my Kathy loved what I did," Edward boasted.

"Heathcliff is a hero in a classical novel. Wuthering Heights. Strange choice though, I never thought of him as a hero myself. I would have thought you'd choose Romeo or even Mr Darcy," Alice frowned.

"I saw the book in her truck. I may have wrecked her truck, by the way."

"So, we need to bury a truck at least," Emmett cheered.

"Go, now, before the tow truck arrives. The police will be very interested if they see that damage. Bella won't be able to talk anyone around to believing it happened in an accident. Go, now," Alice warned.

The three men disappeared and Rose sat down beside her sister.

"Is it fixable? I could go and make it back like new."

"That would confuse everyone. Maybe. Go and see for yourself."

Rose followed the men and called a halt as Emmett posed ready to smash the remaining metal to a pulp.

"Let me try and fix it, that will confuse them all."

The men watched as Rose worked, unbending metal, barking orders so Emmett joined in and followed her directions. The door was unbuckled and like 'new' in the respect, it was back to it's former condition, old, rusty but a door again.

Jasper carefully realigned the hinges back straight and they fitted the door on and slammed it closed.

"Good as new," Rose smiled and headed off to hunt. She could smell the aroma of last night's events in the air and if she was giving Emmett a workout, she should eat first.

"Come on, we have things to do, come and keep your strength up, Emmett," she yelled and he followed in her footsteps.

"Ooops, you are reliving last night in your head, right?" Jasper asked and Edward grinned.

"Poor Alice needs me home. Bye."

He high fived his brother and nodded his thanks for Alice's renewed arousal and disappeared.

Edward retreated into the forest to hunt, taking deer after deer until he was sloshy. He had never felt quite so hungry before. He sat and watched from up the same tree he had used last night as their trysting place. He stayed for hours, even as the sun's first rays streaked the sky and ended the night.

The aroma was still there, her sweet scent on the tree trunk, his own mixed with hers on the grass where he had released beside her, afraid to do so inside her in case his venom harmed her in some way.

The far off sounds of a truck and a car filled a small part of his brain as he sat there smiling at his memories. The humans were about to descend.

Charlie Swan was scratching his head as the wolfman tried to convince him the door had been ripped off, and trashed, but clearly this was not possible. The Quileute kept protesting loudly that her truck was not like this last night when he left.

Edward chuckled. Good idea Rose had. Now instead of them assuming the truck had been stolen, as he had intended, it was there to confuse them all.

Untouched.

Not trashed.

As the tow truck left with it's burden, Edward pulled the red lace panties from his jeans pocket and sniffed them.

"Kathy. My Kathy. I will have you again," he murmured. It had been very against his nature to take her like that. He had always imagined himself a better person, well, vampire and intended waiting for love before bowing to lust. He could have had Tanya for sex for the last few decades but he had never given in, believing he needed to keep one rule unbroken. So much for that.

He had unfortunately witnessed many acts of lust being played out in his lifetime and it had only ever bored him. He had left whoever's mind he was in immediately and gone to find someone else, someone playing a piano was always nice at those moments.

Music could clear away any unwelcome images.

Alice was replaying what she had 'seen' in her head as she guided Jasper in their bed and for once, Edward stayed. Not watching them, but watching what she was thinking.

The human girl had been so responsive. He had expected her to maybe scream in fear and run away. He would have let her go, he assured himself.

He would have stopped, that was certain.

He would never force any girl to do anything she didn't want to and his Kathy had wanted him as much as he wanted her. He watched her face in Alice's head and saw her come undone around him and he knew she had not been a victim.

"Bella."

He tried the name on his tongue and decided he liked it. She would always be Kathy as well, but he could live with 'Bella'. It was beautiful, like she was.

He climbed down to 'their' branch and carved his initials deep in the trunk, and added her own.

IMS.

He knew that much about her but no more.

But that just meant now his life had purpose. He would get to know her. He knew she had been unable to see him in the pitch black and she actually had no idea who she was with in her first exploration of her human sexuality, but that was probably for the better.

Even though Alice swore Bella would never tell, the future could change. At least this way, she had no idea who Heathcliff was.

The wolf knew it was a vampire, but nothing more.

He should go home and shower and put on more than just boxers and jeans. While the climate never bothered him, seeing him walk around bare chested in this cold and rainy town would attract attention, and the only attention he wanted was from one particular woman.

He could hear his 'siblings' all chortling and laughing about him and his 'cashing in' of his card as he showered. Emmett was the most amazed, he had already decided Edward would remain forever virginal.

Jasper was happy for him, but concerned, because he knew he himself could never have handled a human in such close proximity.

Carlisle was bursting with pride. He alone had thought things could one day come to this. He trusted his eldest 'son' and knew he had endless self control and sure enough, Edward's now rivalled his own.

The females were setting off to Seattle to do some serious dress shopping so once Edward could no longer pick up on Rose and his Mother's thoughts, he tuned into Carlisle. Alice's mind was forever linked with his own, distance made no difference.

Although Carlisle was at work at Forks Hospital, he knew Edward would want to share his experiences and he was playing the long ago scenarios in his mind as he worked.

The first human girl, Bethany, whom Carlisle encountered a mere century after his change. She was a servant girl and the favorite of the master of the house. Carlisle had worked in the vast gardens and Bethany had brought him his lunch from the kitchen each day at noon. They had chatted innocently as he faked eating the foul human food, then one day a sudden rainstorm had trapped them both in the potting shed and the girl had made her intentions clear.

She wanted to spend some time with him.

Carlisle had been completely torn, he was devoted already to the promise to never take a human life so he had suggested they meet every lunchtime in that shed and she had come, and they sat together until he was so used to her scent, he thought maybe a kiss would be alright.

It was, and it hadn't been as hard as he expected. Within the month he had convinced himself he could mate with her and as she had been long broken in by their master, there had been no blood, no pain, just a regular copulation and Carlisle had managed to keep in control despite the pleasure his body went through.

From that day forward, they indulged in sex every noon and even sometimes at night, when the master was otherwise occupied.

Of course, Carlisle's lack of aging meant all too soon, he had to leave and kiss her good-bye but he remembered her well, all these centuries later.

Then there was Nell, the farmer's daughter. Their trysts had been out in the open air, and Edward smiled as Carlisle replayed those memories.

Edward lay back on his bed and watched his creator's mind like a human would watch a video.

The women changed as his 'father' moved around the various countries.

Bonita in Spain, Lucia in Italy, the lovely Anne in England.

Carlisle had never been tempted to change any of them, just enjoying their company and their bodies for a limited time then moving on.

He knew Esme was different from the first time he met her, a student with a broken leg. He had set the limb and admired her from afar.

She was never meant to be just a casual companion and he had watched her marry and have her child, and been there at the exact moment she had jumped from the cliff after the infant's death. He had not hesitated to change her.

"_You will know, Edward. Your intended mate is different to every other woman. It's hard to explain. It's not how she looks or speaks or acts. It's not a matter of having to even know her that well. Your instincts will tell you if she is the one. Just enjoy spending some time with her, as both Edward and Heathcliff, and in time, you will know. Trust yourself , son. I knew you could do this. I'm proud of you, Edward."_

Edward smiled and decided to follow Carlisle's advice.

Where would Isabella Marie Swan be at this time of day? It was a Saturday, so not at her usual place of work. Hopefully not at the beach, where the sun would reveal his secret.

Alice tapped loudly in his head.

"She's in her bedroom, in her father's house. She's smiling and touching the mark on her neck. Her window is open and the weather will be cloudy, with a chance of romance."

Edward flew through the forest to the back of the Swan house and quickly scaled the tree outside her window. Sure enough, there she lay, on her stomach, on her bed. She was writing in a diary of some form and she rolled onto her back and slapped the book closed.

"Heathcliff," she sighed and slid the book into the drawer of her dresser.

Her cell rang and she picked it up and sat by the window, so her aroma drifted his way and he deep breathed it in.

"Of course I'm staying out of the forest. I am an adult, Jacob, you really don't have to check up on me. I beg your pardon?"

She threw the small plastic device across the room and stood up, walking towards the doorway.

She paused and Edward smiled as she unhooked his pea coat from the hook on her door and held it against her nose. She clearly enjoyed his aroma as he did hers. She pulled the overlarge jacket on and walked downstairs.

Of course, he should have realized. He had taken what was undoubtedly her only jacket.

"Alice," he said silently inside his head.

"What color or do I get to choose? There's a royal blue jacket that would look amazing with her skin tone. I already bought it, actually."

"Of course you did. Thanks. She needs new boots as well. The ones she wears are so worn, they can't possibly be warm."

"On it, brother. Edward, go home and get your Volvo. You have to at least appear human around her. She will be in the library for the next two hours. And wear your spare pea coat. There was a reason I bought you two identical coats and made you wear them turn about. This is that reason."

Edward dashed back to retrieve his car and coat and sped down the road as he followed the girl as she jumped into her father's blue truck and headed to town.

He parked across the road from the library car park and waited, standing, leaning against the Volvo, as he watched her.

She greeted several people as she headed inside.

Edward decided to give her ten minutes then follow her in.

"Alice, I can't read her mind, how do I get to know her?" he asked inside his head.

"Use your words, Edward."

"Speak to her?" he choked.

"Well, that would be the best way. Though they do say a touch can convey a thousand thoughts."

"Not in her case," he replied. It would be so much simpler if he could just read her thoughts straight from her mind. He wished he had Aro's talent, to know every thought she had ever had with one simple touching of their hands.

With his acute hearing, he could easily follow any conversations she took part in and anyway, he could feel the annoying Jessica was waiting inside. Flicking into her mind was sometimes a cesspool of lust and she always gave in to her most basic desires but now how could he judge her harshly? Hadn't he done the same?

"Bella! Wow, we haven't been honored by your presence for a while," Jessica said with a slight touch of envy. She hated that Bella had beaten her to that job, as Victoria's ghost writer. Instead, she would probably be stuck here as town librarian for the rest of her working career.

Edward could think of a career much more suited to her, but Forks was hardly a place a lady of the night would be tolerated.

"Hey Jess. I'm looking for book about... Maybe a medical book? What would cause a man to be cold?"

"Are we talking about Mike because that fucker can be cold as ice the minute you go out and have a little fun elsewhere."

Bella laughed, uncertainly, "No, I mean cold, as in cold to touch. Cold skin."

"Lack of circulation? Low blood pressure? That would be a bitch because my father had that and it meant he couldn't get it up and my Mom has been a different woman since that happened. Very snappy and short tempered. I mean, wouldn't you just go out and get laid at some club if your husband couldn't perform in the bedroom? Not that anyone their age should be even having sex. She's like forty nine. Just yuck."

Bella raised her eyebrows.

"So, poor circulation makes for cold skin but penile dysfunction? Not the answer I'm after, then."

"Why don't we just Google it?" Jess suggested.

Bella chuckled. A whole building crammed with books and they were resorting to the Internet?

Jess booted up the computer at her desk and the two women read each answer to Bella's query.

Jess stiffened as Bella leaned across her to hit the back key to recall an answer from a medical chatboard she had previously dismissed as irrelevant.

"Whoa. Why are you wearing Edward Cullen's pea coat? God, you smell just like him."

Bella straightened up in shock and unconsciously pulled the collar of the coat to her nose.

"Edward Cullen?"

"Sure, he wore that in High School. I remember the day he first appeared in it. Winter , junior year. His sister Alice bought it for him. He wore black skinny jeans and a scarf made of natural fibers with it, sea green. It made his eyes look kind of like emeralds. He first wore the scarf the 21st June that year so one would assume it was a birthday gift the day before."

"And you know all this because?" Bella asked.

"I could win a quiz on facts about Edward Cullen. I found him fascinating. So incredibly handsome, so sexy, he was just...perfect. He wore a lot of green. You remember how his eyes were that beautiful gold color? Well, when he wore green, they looked green. I also noticed, when his brother Jasper wore blue, his eyes looked blue. He was never as good looking as Edward though," she waved her hand in dismissal.

"Did you and Edward..." Bella asked.

"God no, I wish. If I'd managed to drag that handsome creature into my bed, I would have the date it happened tattooed on my forehead."

Bella considered asking Jess what she thought about her encounter in the forest. If there was one thing Jess would understand and not condemn her for, it was random sexual encounters with men who didn't introduce themselves beforehand.

"Fuck me," Jess whispered loudly, causing Bella to look at her face then follow her eyes.

"It's like we called him and he materialized," Jess whispered.

She stood up, undid a further front button on her see through white blouse, not quite library regulation. She flipped back her hair over her shoulders, licked her cherry red lipsticked lips and put her arms behind her back, crossed at waist level, forcing her breasts to jut out on display.

"This blouse cost me $85, and it's about to pay off," she whispered to Bella, smiling at the tall man in the pea coat who had just entered her domain.

"Edward, how nice to see you again. It's been a while. Ever since High School graduation. What have you been up to?" she asked with a wink, leaning against the counter so her blouse gaped and gave him a full view.

"Um, medical school, Alaska. I've just come back," he improvised.

"So, it's Doctor Edward Cullen now? How interesting. I'm just filling in time working here until I work out my true vocation," she gushed. "I always thought I would make a good nurse. What do you think?" she asked, fluttering her eyelashes.

"I'm sure you would be very..hands on.. with the patients," he replied.

"I'd remind them why it was worth pulling through, hey," she giggled.

"Undoubtedly," Edward replied, looking at Bella Swan. He inhaled her unique scent and let it roll about on his tongue.

Bella looked up at him and bit her full, rosy lower lip with her pearly white teeth and he inhaled a needless lung full of fresh air and willed himself to settle. That lip...

As much as he wanted to kiss her lips, he also wanted to taste her ambrosia again. He had never needed to try that before but now he had, it would be all he thought about.

Jess walked out from behind the desk and frowned at his attention leaving her and turning to Bella.

"So, what can I do you for?" she asked in her breathless sexy voice, saved for just this type of encounter. She moved closer, attempting to connect with his body.

Edward stepped back without thought, used to avoiding body contact with humans. In fact he had never touched a human at all until...

"I'm just checking to see how well this library is stocked. Carlisle feels generous at the moment and wants to donate funds for new books if the library needs them."

"Gosh, you know what? I think you and I should go somewhere and discuss this further. We always welcome new benefactors but we need to get onto the same page and make sure the titles we order would suit and benefit the community as a whole. It could take quite a few meetings but I'm free tonight, as it happens. Dinner at my place? 8pm?"

"I'll see if Carlisle is free," Edward answered.

Jess stood back and rearranged her face, hiding her disappointment.

"This place needs a section devoted to the classics," Bella said. She rubbed the silver mark at her neck, without thought, her fingers touching it as gently as they had touched him. Oh to be that mark and be on the recieving end of those fingers. Edward smiled at her warmly.

"Sure. That sounds like a great idea. Romeo and Juliet, Pride and Prejudice, Wuthering Heights, all favourites of mine," he replied.

"Your coat," Bella said, looking him over.

"This old thing? I just found it again. I used to wear it at High School. Oh, you have the same coat as me," he smiled.

"I thought it was yours," Jessica interjected, slapping at Edward's arm. "I mean, why on Earth would Bella Swan be wearing your coat?" she laughed. "That's just absurd."

"I think it looks good on her," Edward replied.

Bella blushed and Edward felt the need to either embrace her or run away. He did neither. He looked at the empty headed creature at his side and frowned at the erotic images in her head.

She certainly missed her calling. She could be a millionaire if she charged for all the activities she played at.

"Alice was hoping you would come to lunch. Meet the parents," he said to Bella, watching her eyes.

"I already know Dr Cullen of course. I think I have visited his ER enough to get me frequent flier points over the years. And I have met Esme. She comes to the ballet studio sometimes, to play the piano for the girls."

Edward was surprised and he wondered how he had missed that news. Maybe he had dismissed it as superfluous information, he had to do that a lot with so many minds open to his own.

"Of course. But you have never been to our house?" he asked, confident he was right about that.

Bella frowned. "You know, I once got as close as turning into your driveway but Alice just appeared out of nowhere and we ended up going back to Charlie's. I have never been to your house."

Edward smiled, he was right. He didn't enjoy ever being wrong.

"Time you came to visit us, then. Lunchtime today? I can meet you at your house and give you a lift."

"Okay. Noon?" she suggested. She felt both confused and shocked at the conversation but Alice had been her friend for years. She should have wondered why she had never visited her friend's home. It had been rude of her. They had made tentative plans to do so many times over the years but something had always come up and they had met elsewhere. How crazy, she had never visited Alice's house! Charlie was so used to Alice dropping in on them, he even cajoled her to stay and have a cup of tea with him if she called when Bella was not at home.

"Perfect. I shall look forward to it. Jessica, I shall tell Carlisle his donation will be spent well. Every library needs a section of Classic reading."

Both women watched him walk away.

"You dirty sneak. I was working the Stanley magic and you distracted him," Jess scolded.

"I believe the invitation came from Alice. Edward probably won't even eat with us."

"Try and sneak a peek into his bedroom. I've imagined his bed so many times. Water bed? Canopy bed draped all in black? Sleigh bed with silk sheets? Whatever type it is it would be really large and roomy with plenty of space for manoeuvring," Jess sighed longingly.

He watched Bella roll her eyes at Jess as a small pink blush appeared on her own cheeks and an intense longing shone in her deep brown eyes.

Jess laughed. "You fraud, you are picturing him in his bed, too."

"I was thinking of what a very amazing Heathcliff he would be," Bella replied.

Jess shrugged. Heathcliff? Who the fuck was that?

Edward paused. He needed a bed. For the first time in over a hundred years, he needed a bed. It would be too strange for Bella to see his bedroom and notice he had no bed. And one night soon he would need that bed for a purpose, if he managed to make things go his way.

He had no doubt in his head now, she was perfect. She was what he needed. She was his.

And she wanted him to be her Heathcliff.


	4. Chapter 4

**Fav review:**

From: Totteacher

A wonderful chapter. It is a new twist to have an Edward who is not so drawn  
>by her blood and silent mind, but more to her essence. I am going to put up a<br>rec for this story.

**Yeah, baby, Pimp me out! Every slapper needs a pimp!**

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 4

Bella Swan sighed as she searched though her closet trying to find just one outfit that would be deemed acceptable to Alice and not launch her into the usual lecture about always keeping even a small part of her wage for herself. Charlie's semi retirement had meant the family income had dropped to the point where her wage was essential to make the mortgage payments and pay for the many varied costs of owning a house, and feeding the two people living in it.

Utilities were a constant drain and if she hadn't agreed to keep living at home with her father, paying the bulk of the expenses, the bank would have long ago sold the house out from under him.

Selling up and moving into a small rented place would have made financial sense but this house was special to them both. It was the house Charlie had helped build with his own hands when he had become engaged to Renee. The house he brought home his beautiful blushing bride to. The house they both brought home their one and only daughter. The house that baby grew up in, and always knew as home. It was the place in which Bella hoped to one day dress into her wedding gown, and go with her proud father to the church or whatever venue she and her intended chose to be married in.

It was important to hang on to it for as long as they could. Bella's hope was that she would manage to pay off the mortgage and every bonus tossed her way by a grateful Victoria went straight towards that goal. Her boss knew without Bella and her ghost writing skills, her stories were nothing. In reality, all she wrote was the rough basic outline. Whenever she attempted to fill in the details, they were inevitably edited out again by Bella as she rewrote the story and gave it life.

Victoria could simply write something as basic as "Hero is a soldier, goes to war, thought to be dead, turns up years later when wife has remarried, battle between old and new husband, you pick who wins. Oh and I want a cat in the story." In fact, Bella preferred it when that was all Vic wrote. It was easier than wading through pages of irrelevant dialogue that had been be totally changed anyway.

She supposed Alice was right. She should keep aside enough money to buy say one decent item of clothing each month. Her closet contained only the basics and because her job was done behind closed doors, with no customer contact, she didn't even have a selection of better quality 'work clothes' like most women.

She flicked through her choices. Three pairs of everyday jeans, three skirts, seldom worn, usually only if the jeans were all waiting to be laundered. One skirt was now somewhat more precious to her. The red gypsy styled skirt that her secret lover had removed from her body in the forest.

She had never particularly liked that skirt before. Renee had sent it in one of the "guilt care packages" she sent her abandoned daughter twice a year to salve her own conscience. The clothes were always what Renee thought her daughter should wear, not the clothes Bella would have chosen for herself. But clothes were clothes and she remembered the latest package, opened and looked through then hastily restuffed when she found the black lace thongs she would never wear. Renee was a black lace thong wearer, not Bella. She felt daring in her red lace boy shorts to be honest.

Damn, while she was glad Heathcliff liked them enough to want to keep them, they had been her best panties. She had never suspected the fate that awaited those red boy shorts. The reminder of what she had allowed to happen made her blush but to be honest, she didn't regret that encounter at all. A decent girl would never have allowed an unseen stranger to touch her body like that let alone given him permission to take her virginity and he had asked first. He had retained a level of decency even if she hadn't.

She had always imagined the man who made her into a real, proper woman would be different. More like her, more ordinary.

Heathcliff was perfect. Unseen, unknown yet perfect.

Because she hadn't seen him, he could look like whatever she chose.

Because she didn't know him, he could be whatever she wanted him to be.

He was single, had no baggage, no wife waiting at home, no partner worried about where he was.

He was naturally extremely good looking. Clean. Tidy. Well mannered.

Maybe he owned a nice car and even a nice apartment somewhere. He definitely admired her and maybe he even loved her, secretly, from afar.

He had introduced her to a world as yet unknown to her body and she had loved it. Maybe she was not the woman Charlie and Jake imagined her to be. Maybe at heart, deep inside, she was wild and wanton and this encounter had just shown her true self?

Of course, it could never happen again. Any nice girl could make a mistake. A single lapse in judgement. But only a very naughty girl would go back to the scene of the crime and hope for a repeat performance and Bella Swan was not a bad girl. She had never done a single bad thing ever in her life.

She would never go back to that lonely stretch of road and wait for those long fingers to touch her again. Those arms to embrace her again. Those icy lips to kiss her own and ignite her body with a red hot passion.

That would not be happening.

Her brain clapped and agreed.

"No" was the right response. There were a million reasons why it could never recur. Words like wanton and loose woman and hussy were spoken but another voice shouted it down.

The inner voice of her body.

_Shut the fuck up, brain, and go do some calculus or work out the square root of Pi. It will happen again, and often._

It seemed her body was not as pure as her brain.

Her heart offered it's opinion and Bella listened.

_The thing is, girl, how many men actually want to touch you and hold you in their arms and kiss you like he did? I seem to remember your first kiss._

_Mike Newton, Tyler's party, Junior Year. You drank your first shot of vodka to take away the taste of his tongue._

_Second kiss, Jason Brown, and although it was better than Mike's, you found out soon after he had a girlfriend and only wanted you as a stand in because she wasn't there that night. You ran outside and cried and Alice had to hold you until the tears stopped. She told you many men were toads and Jason and Mike were just your share, before you met Prince Charming._

_Remember Prince Charming? Otherwise known as Danny Tremain? He kissed you so sweetly you thought he was The One for sure. Then what did he say, Bella?_

_"Thank you for that. I always suspected maybe I was gay and now I know for sure. Thanks for helping me come to that realization. We can still be friends, right?"_

_Let's face it, you had been willing to do a lot more than kiss him. How would it be if he had taken your virginity as the ultimate test of his sexuality?_

_Better this way, Bella. Better a man who at least held you tight in his embrace afterwards and kissed you. Maybe we can go back. Maybe this could be something. If it turns out that something is just fun, then so be it. Better a little fun in your life than nothing but men who kiss like frogs, cheat on their girlfriends or decide they bat for the other team._

_Maybe we could go back just one more time?_

_That bell can't be unrung so why not ring it again?_

_Why not think of it as a hobby? If collecting matchbook covers and dressing up as Star Wars characters are hobbies, then why not moon watching? Wandering into the forest to see if you can see the moon? That's innocent enough, Bella._

She was twenty five years old after all. If she chose to go moon watching and happened to encounter Heathcliff again, then that was really out of her hands. He couldn't live in that forest. He smelled so sweet and clean and his hair was soft and clearly washed, she knew that from touch alone.

So, chances were, he would never even be there when she was. And moon watching surely was an innocent hobby. She could moon watch. She would watch the moon again.

That decision made, she turned to the current decision.

What to wear?

Reluctantly, she emptied the package onto the bed again and looked closer at the contents. As well as the thong, there was a matching bra and she also found a red blouse she hadn't noticed before. She put the undergarments on and tried on the blouse. Apart from the fact it was cut to show off her cleavage, such as it was, it was actually a very nice quality garment. Maybe she should look closer at the other packages similarly discarded on the closet floor.

The sound of voices downstairs caused her to delay that impulse, and instead she quickly looked over the best pair of jeans she owned. When had they become so worn and faded and why hadn't she noticed? Alice would probably rip them off her body and toss them in the garbage.

A skirt then.

THE skirt was the only one that matched even slightly with the new blouse so she smiled at the chance to wear it again and stepped into it.

Charlie looked up as she walked down the stairs.

"What time will you be home? Do I need to order enough takeaway for my dinner as well?" he asked gruffly.

"Good idea. I may be late. It depends on what Alice has planned. Assume I will be home after you go to bed." She kissed her father's cheek and smiled as she patted his hand.

After I've stopped on the way home to moon watch.

"You look nice," Edward Cullen said, stepping forward as she turned to face him. His certainty of earlier was fading as he saw the love she had in her eyes for her father. And she seemed happy in her life, despite the lack of money or of a partner. Maybe he had no right even trying to win her heart and hope she would understand what he was, and how essential it would be for her to want to become like him? He lived in a completely different world to hers.

"Thank you. I hope Alice approves. Just because she is always so perfectly dressed, so neat and tidy and together, she expects everyone else to be as well."

Edward grinned.

If Bella had seen Alice when she got home she would have laughed out loud. Alice had run home through the forest all the way from Seattle, seeing they never would have gotten back by car in time for lunch. Of course, she had carried the bags with Bella's new coat and boots and various other items of clothing she had purchased, with her. Edward had helped her pick the leaves and small twigs from her hair and she had flounced off to shower and change out of her messed up clothes. All the while cursing him out for the sudden impulse to invite Bella to lunch the day she was so far away. Esme would have returned with her but Rose had decided to stay and shop, as planned. If Edward wanted to entertain a human, it was his problem, not hers.

"Whose coat is that?" Charlie asked suspiciously.

"Mine, I lent it to Bella in the library this morning. It looked like rain," he replied, taking the garment from her hands. Bella was grateful for the cover story but she wanted that coat back. It still smelled vaguely of Heathcliff.

Edward smirked as he passed her red truck on the way to his Volvo. Bella knew the damage she had thought was there must have been the product of her hallucination but strangely Jake had also thought there had been a lot of damage to that door and there was none. Not even another scratch to those already there. The tow truck driver had delivered the car to the garage and nothing was found to be wrong with it except the empty gas tank.

But why was Edward Cullen looking at that very door and smirking? Jess had always been convinced at High School that he could read minds. She had many anecdotes about things that happened to back up her claim but Bella knew he couldn't. If he had been able to, he would have known she had spent her lunchtimes watching him, thinking about how ridiculously beautiful he was. Even if he hadn't liked her, surely he would have felt her eyes on him, day after day, as she watched him from afar, from the other side of the lunchroom.

Suddenly it occurred to her, if he took her in his car, then he or Alice would insist on driving her home and she would miss her chance to moon watch. But he had come to collect her and it would be rude to insist she drove herself.

Drat.

"Bella," Edward said softly, bringing her back to the present as he stood with the passenger door open, waiting for her to get in.

"Sorry. I was miles away," she answered.

Twenty five miles away to be exact.

He slid into the driver's seat and started the engine. Bella felt her eyes drift to watch his silhouette as he drove. God, he really was beautiful. He had hardly changed at all, really.

He still had that exact same hair and the slight few days growth of stubble on his chin, that had looked kind of out of place at High School, but it suited him all the same. She could almost imagine the feeling of that stubble against her thighs and she wriggled a little in her seat.

Edward turned and smiled at her and she blushed madly, glad Jess's theory was wrong because he would know what a tart she was, if he could read her mind. Flicking back and forth between him and Heathcliff, as if the two men were interchangable.

She suppressed a laugh. At least Heathcliff had wanted her, not like this gorgeous man beside her. He was being incredibly polite and sweet, coming to collect her and all, but it was laughable to even consider he would ever look her way.

A bird in the hand and all that. Heathcliff was hers, hopefully for a little while at least. Edward Cullen never would be.

"Tell me a little about yourself," Edward said as he drove.

Bella looked up in surprise.

"You have been Alice's friend for so long yet I barely know you," he said and she nodded.

"That's mutual. I scarcely know anything about you either." Except that you are the best looking man in the world.

"Tell me what music you like," he suggested. Bella shrugged.

"I like Muse, The Killers, some Coldplay. Nine Inch Nails. My Chemical Romance. Jeff Buckley. Pearl Jam. I like indie bands. I like classical music. I'm not your typical twenty five year old, I don't keep up with new bands. I tend to find a new one maybe once a year and stick to them and keep listening to my older favorites."

"Those are all good," he replied. He handed her his iPod and she scrolled through his favorites.

Coldplay. Muse. MCR. Eddie Vedder's Ukulele Songs album. Jeff Buckley. Clare de Lune. Nine Inch Nails.

Bella laughed. "What, no Killers?"

"I do have Brandon Flowers solo album," he replied.

"Really? I didn't know he had one," she replied excitedly. Edward took the iPod back and set it on the dock and the sound of The Killer's lead singer's voice, singing alone, filled the car.

"What's your favorite song? Ever?" he asked.

Bella shrugged. "Too hard. I have so many that I love."

"Most meaningful lyrics, then."

He muted the music and Bella looked at his eyes and sang the words that had always made her heart clench.

"I know someday you'll have a beautiful life,  
>I know you'll be a sun,<p>

in somebody else's sky, but why

Why, why can't it be, can't it be in mine?"

"Black, Pearl Jam," he nodded. "They are amazing. How about these:

I still recall the taste of your tears  
>Echoing your voice just like the ringing in my ear<br>My favorite dreams of you still wash ashore  
>Scraping through my head 'til I don't want to sleep anymore<p>

You make this all go away  
>You make this all go away<br>I just want something  
>I just want something I can never have."<p>

"I love that song. It just makes you want to know who she was. Who was the girl Trent Reznor wanted that he could never have? She certainly inspired a song that tears at your heart."

"I know how he feels," Edward said sadly.

"I wonder if he even tried to get her? Did he fight for her? Or did he sit at home, just wishing he could have her. Maybe she never even knew he loved her."

"Maybe he knew she was better off without him. Maybe he knew he would only bring her pain and they could never be together."

"If she loved him a tenth as much as he loved her, they would have found a way. I know he had his problems back then, but look at him now. Clean, sober. Things change."

"Not for everyone. Some people stay the same forever and can't change."

"Maybe she would have loved and accepted him as he was. Perfectly imperfect. Sometimes you love someone despite their faults. Surely that is true love. It's easy to love the guy with no issues, no past. But to know someone is flawed and love them anyway?"

"Could you do that? Love a man who had many regrets about his past, and could never be what was best for you?"

"If I loved him, maybe he would be what was best for me. People don't always love the person who is most suited to them. Look at me and Jacob Black. I don't suppose you know him but his father and mine have been friends forever and it would make so much sense for Jake and I to be a couple. He would love it, he's never hidden how he feels for me. But I just don't love him, you know? He will never be the man I need, the man I want and desire and love."

"Poor Jacob Black," Edward replied.

"So, who is your unrequited love?" Bella asked.

"You picked up on that? Just a girl who will probably never see me as what she needs and could love. We are too different and I want her to have the best life and if she was with me, that couldn't happen. I realize now, I have to stand back and set her free and not get any more involved than I already am. She deserves that."

"Maybe she deserves to be allowed to decide that herself. Maybe she loves you enough to overlook whatever you perceive to be these terrible faults."

Edward parked the car and opened Bella's door for her.

"Thanks for the ride and for the lie to Charlie about the coat but I want to keep it."

"Why? It's way too big for you and it's a man's coat. I'm sure Alice will have a new coat for you amongst her many surprise gifts."

"I want that coat. It belongs to someone special to me," she answered determinedly.

Edward smiled. "Then of course you must keep it."

Alice bounced out of the front door as Bella stood there in shock, looking at the amazing mansion in front of her. Wood and steel and glass, so much glass. It was fantastic.

"Hey Bella, finally you come to visit me. I can't believe we never managed to do this years ago.

Ooh, horrible coat. Wait until you see what I have gotten for you, Esme and I found this Fashion Discount Warehouse," she said, almost choking over the lie. "Everything was like, 95% off and I knew you would want me to buy you some of the amazing bargains."

Edward wanted to laugh, the words were so against the grain for his little fashionista sister. She didn't consider anything worth buying if it was marked down a single cent. She had spent time marking down the price tags so it appeared she had spent a mere fifty dollars, not the real hundreds.

She led Bella inside and gave her a tour of the downstairs then moved on to the second floor where she and Jasper shared a room. Next to it was Emmett and Rose's bedroom, then Carlisle and Esme's. All the couple's together.

Bella gasped at the beautiful blue coat and boots and the new skinny jeans and blouses.

"Alice, you are amazing. All this for fifty dollars? Let me pay you for them, it's the least I can do. Thank you so much for thinking of me and knowing exactly what I would have bought myself had I been there."

"No need, consider it your early birthday present," she insisted. Like fifty dollars meant anything to this family's finances. It would leave a gap in Bella's budget and she knew that.

"Alice, you know I don't like gifts."

"Then how about you cook dinner for all of us. It's Edward's turn and his cooking sucks. Save us from eating his meal and it will be money well spent."

"Sure, I would love to cook for you all," Bella agreed immediately.

"Well, come finish the tour. All that's upstairs is Edward's domain. We don't need to go up there."

Bella leaned in and whispered in her ear. "I told Jessica I would sneak a peek into his bedroom and check out his bed. Would he mind?" she asked.

Alice grinned. "Of course not. He's downstairs, he won't even know."

Bella lightly walked up the staircase leading to the third level and Alice showed her inside the room at the end. Bella stood there dumbstruck. The room was amazing. The sound of the piano being played downstairs stopped suddenly and in seconds Edward was at his door.

"You can come inside," he said, almost shyly.

"I need to check on lunch. You show Bella round up here," Alice ordered.

Edward walked inside and Bella followed. The full glass walls overlooking the forest were just incredible. Almost like sleeping out there amongst the trees. His bed was large, as Jess hoped, and old fashioned. Four poster, with a canopy but white, not black. The bed ends were metal with roses intertwined along both ends. It was simply the most amazing bed she had ever seen.

"I can't believe this bed. This room. God, it's...it's perfect."

Edward smiled. He knew this was The Bed the moment he saw it and he had been right. His Kathy loved it, like he knew she would. It was romantic and possibly girlie.

He wanted to see her in this bed, with her hair splayed out on his pillow. He wanted to see her in something white and gauzy that would rip away effortlessly and reveal her perfect body to him.

Bella walked along the racks of cd's and old vinyl records and admired his music collections. So many years of buying whatever appealed to him, but never anyone to share these with.

She smiled at the titles and her eyes lit up now and then when she found a favorite of her own. They were so alike, so in sync with one another.

"Bella, come and try on some of those clothes. Lunch will be ready in thirty minutes, Edward. Be there."

Edward narrowed his eyes, knowing what his sister was saying. If she had to force human food down her own throat, so did he. This was his visitor, not hers, in reality.

Bella stripped to her bra and thong and Alice tried various clothes on her body, as she studiously ignored the bruises and scrapes on her friends back. Bella gasped at herself when she noticed the marks marring her body in the many full length mirrors that reflected her from every angle.

Alice heard the sudden sharp intake of breath as Edward saw what she was showing him, mind to mind.

_You call this unharmed? Look at her, Edward. The bark has scratched the shit out of her back. Your fingers have bruised her arms, her hips, and God knows how she felt inside after you finished pounding her._

_"_So Bella, any news to tell me about?" she asked as she slipped another new dress over the girl's battered body.

"Actually, Alice, I'm dying to tell someone. Don't yell at me but I have found myself a lover. Or he found me, really."

"Wow, that is good news. So, he's responsible for the cuts and bruises?"

Bella laughed. "The bruises but I probably caused the bark burn myself. I was enjoying what he was doing so much I wouldn't have noticed if I had lost a limb, to be honest. Alice, he is incredible and I feel so alive."

"So, you are going to meet him again?"

Bella lay across Alice's bed and put her hands behind her head. "God, I hope so. I intend going to the place we met every night, once Charlie is asleep, and waiting to see if he comes back. Suddenly life really is worth living. And no lectures about waiting for love and all that. I guess if I was going to meet Mr Right, I would at least know he exists by now. If Heathcliff is merely Mr Right Now, well, it's enough. I just hope he doesn't tire of me too soon."

"How long do you want him to keep wanting you?" her friend asked.

"Forever would not be too long. He's amazing, Alice. I never knew how good sex could be."

"What's he look like?" Alice asked. She ignored the inhuman growl only detectable by her own ears.

"Hmm, amazing. His hair is so soft, his skin is kind of cool to touch but when he was inside me, whoa. I felt parts of me I never knew existed and I fully intend feeling that again."

"What if he's bad for you, Bella?"

"Smoking's bad for me, but I don't do it. If he's bad for me, then he's my smoking substitute."

"So, he's smoking hot, is he?" Alice laughed.

"Absolutely," she replied.

**This chapter is getting too long. Have to write the moon watching in the next chapter. See you when reviews hit 200. Cheers, have a good weekend.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Let's just agree you owe me 8 . 742 readers, I think 50 reviews per chapter is fair.**

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 5

"Oh Edward, don't be silly, you know you want another serving," Alice trilled, heaping his plate with more mushroom ravioli. Edward glared and his sister laughed inside her head.

_So help me, Alice. It will already take me an hour to rid myself of this disgusting mess._

"I think it's awesome, I didn't even know you could cook. I always cook for you, this is the first time you have ever cooked for me. I can't believe how little you eat," Bella commented.

"I may not look like it, but I gain weight just like that! At my height, if I ate as much as most people do, I would be as wide as I am high and Jasper could bounce me along on the sidewalk. I always stick to the amount of calories I know I can burn off, and keep this darn figure svelte. I'm not lucky like you, I can't shove all that food down my throat and never gain an ounce. So unfair,"

Alice faked.

"Oh, there goes my cell phone. Excuse me ladies."

Edward left the table with his phone at his ear, chatting happily to nobody.

"I didn't hear it ring," Alice growled.

"It's on silent, it vibrated," Edward answered, opening the door and shutting it again behind him as he walked outside to have privacy for his 'phone call'.

He felt terrible. He dashed into the forest and started removing the horrible food from his throat. Dinner would be different. With his whole family present, he could fake eating and simply rush unseen to the kitchen tidy each few minutes to deposit a portion from his plate into the trash. Just as his parents and siblings would do. They would take turns to speak to the human so to distract her, not that her human eyes would even notice any movement.

God, that was vile. He jumped the river at the back of their property and caught the first deer that passed by, not even caring about it's size or gender.

Usually they thinned out the bucks, seeing the does were necessary for replenishing their supply constantly and the 'girls' could share just a few males.

The deer was indeed a stag so he felt a little better after draining it thoroughly.

God, damn that Alice. He had been so desperate to get that hideous taste replaced with something nicer, he had spilt blood on his shirt!

His new shirt, too.

She would have a fit and it was all her own fault.

Oh well, he could use the rear entrance to his bedroom and shower himself off and replace this shirt with one of the twenty others all identical. Alice hated them to wear anything twice.

He paused at the sound of the girls' voices and stiffened in alarm when Bella Swan screamed.

"What? What's happened?" he called, running to the place in the yard where the two women stood.

"I think she's screaming at the blood on your shirt," Alice said crossly. "What happened, Edward? Are you hurt?" she smirked.

"No, no, I...I saw a grizzly bear and it tried to attack me but it was injured and.." _God, he was digging himself into a hole. An injured grizzly would have ripped a human apart._

"It was so badly hurt it died. Just like that. I was struggling to get away and it...had a heart attack. Lucky for me, right?"

"Maybe it had been on a high cholesterol diet," his sister suggested.

"A grizzly? And it's dead? You are sure it's dead?" Bella cried.

"I'm a doctor, I think I can tell when something's dead," Edward replied.

"Can I see the body? I've never seen a grizzly up close. Charlie has always locked me in the house if one is sighted a hundred miles away. I always wanted to touch one and feel it's fur."

"Uh, it's mate dragged the body away. I had to run so it didn't chase me instead, so I don't really know which direction they went. And it will be in mourning so we should stay out of the forest. Grizzlies are very irritable when in mourning," Edward added.

"So, do they mate for life?" Bella asked. "I mean, if it's mourning it's mate, they must mate for life, right?"

"Sure, sometimes. If the male is really hot," Alice replied.

Bella frowned. "I don't think that's true. I seem to remember being taught the female just comes into season and mates with every male she comes across in the forest."

"That would make her a tart. Sleeping with unknown males in the woods. I hope they at least introduce themselves first," Alice trilled.

Bella blushed red and looked away, suddenly finding a flowering vine completely absorbing.

Edward suppressed the urge to throw his sister across the yard and stared at his iPhone, wishing someone, anyone, would call him for real. Even an annoying Indian call center would do.

How come nobody called when you needed them to? Come on, tell me I won an iPad and you just need my bank details to deliver my prize to me.

"So, you cooked, I should wash up," Bella said, quickly walking inside.

She welcomed the messy kitchen, and started stacking the dishwasher.

"Edward, are you finished with your meal or do you want me to reheat it in the microwave?" she called out.

"Oh, it's fine, just toss it away. I'm thinking of going on a special diet, too. I seem to be gaining love handles," he replied, smirking at Alice.

"Well, that would give her something to hold on to," Alice whispered.

Bella was surprised at how much mess Alice had made. You would think she had never cooked before. She had attempted to use all sorts of utensils not needed in preparing the pasta dish.

She worked happily, wondering what meal she would be preparing for dinner. She opened the fridge and gasped at the complete emptiness. Was it even switched on?

Yes, but the temperature was on low, just enough to prevent mold forming. Not enough to chill anything.

"Alice, could I speak to you for a minute?" she called. Alice appeared and Bella waved at the empty fridge.

"What am I cooking for dinner? How come your fridge is empty? It's not even chilly. You should keep it colder, or else when you put warm foodstuffs inside, it will allow all sorts of bugs to multiply and cause food poisoning."

She upped the temperature control and closed the door.

"I guess Esme forgot to shop. Maybe we could just get takeaway. There's the pizza place down the road?"

"God no, not more of that tomato sauce, it was worse coming back up ...I mean, coming with mushrooms in pasta cases...I hate pizza," Edward ended.

"I'm happy to cook, we just need ingredients. Let's see what's in the pantry," Bella suggested.

"No, I think Esme forgot to fill that as well," Alice said hastily. Bloody Edward and his unplanned invitation. She had barely found enough food in the freezer to make the hurried pasta dish.

Bella already had the door open and was standing there looking at the few items on the shelf.

"You have so many aerosol chocolate mousse's," she said in surprise.

Alice smiled and closed the door. Better Bella not see what other things Rosalie and Emmett used in their sex games.

"So, maybe we should go grocery shopping for your Mom and save her the bother," Bella suggested and Edward looked at Alice. Neither had ever entered a supermarket although their mother had, when such props were necessary. How difficult could shopping be? Alice managed to buy out the store when she bought clothing for them all.

Bella chatted happily to them both as they drove back into Forks and she removed a shopping cart from the rack outside and pushed it to Edward, who realized he was meant to push it for her.

"Now, we should get meat, maybe a lamb roast? Or beef?" Bella prattled and Alice danced around the aisles, looking at the brighter packed items.

"You guys just put in whatever Esme usually buys and I'll get the ingredients for dinner," Bella said, walking away.

Alice liked the things in bright foil, so she tossed in stock cubes and packages of instant soup mix and hair dye. Edward liked the candy display and piled in bag after bag of M&M's. They came in so many varieties, so he took about a dozen bags of each.

Alice found foil on a roll and grabbed a handful of them, and then spied another row of silver packaged items.

Trojan.

Hm, maybe some form of moisturizer for trendy males, it did feature handsome men on the front of the packets.

She was confused that the packets were all the same size yet some were marked Regular and others Extra Large. She held up one pack of each and they were identical in size. How strange. Maybe the extra large was a moisturiser for bigger men.

Emmett was bigger, he would be Extra Large. She tossed in about fifty packets.

Oh, more shiny. Doggie Treats, packed in foil. How pretty, yet the cookies pictured were bone shaped, not dog shaped. Whatever. Humans liked cookies.

Edward felt attracted to the replacement cylinders for Soda Stream machines and took a couple.

Alice found some pretty packages with little babies on the front and added some to the cart.

"Okay, I think I have everything," Bella announced, walking up. She placed the raw packaged meat and the bags of vegetables and other ingredients in the cart and frowned at the contents.

"Baby food? Dog treats?" She blushed at the large supply of condoms and turned away.

"Are you finished?" she asked and Edward and Alice agreed they were. Bella felt very confused as she watched the items being bagged up, but it was not her business to wonder why the Cullen's bought what they did and no doubt she was right, Edward did have plenty of girls he slept with, if he needed all that protection. At least he was being safe, which is more than she and Heathcliff were. He paid with his black creditcard and didn't even comment on the total.

They stacked the bags inside the car and Bella slipped a packet of Extra Large Trojans into her own purse unseen.

Alice stacked the pantry while Bella instructed Edward on helping her prepare the vegetables and she set the meal to cook in the spotless oven. Everything was like new, yet she knew they had lived here for years. Maybe they had the kitchen recently refitted. Yet the model of the oven was the same as the well worn one at Charlie's and it was ready to be ripped out and replaced.

Maybe Esme was just a much better cleaner than she was herself.

She opened a large package of M&M's and placed them into a glass bowl and sat them on the coffee table in front of where they were all sitting.

Edward put a dvd in and sat down. His fingers twitched and he leaned forward as the film played, and made little piles of candies in each color on the table. All the reds together, all the yellows. Bella smiled at him. She did the same before she ate them at home, but he made no effort to eat any. He seemed happy once they were all in their correct pile.

He sat back and watched the movie and Bella grinned. In many ways, he was just a big kid.

Esme and Rose arrived home, with many bags and parcels and luckily Jasper and Emmett came home at the same time and carried them in.

Carlisle appeared soon after and Bella went into the kitchen and carved the roast meat and Alice set the table.

"We did the grocery shopping for you," Edward announced and Esme opened the pantry door and stood there dumbfounded.

"Thanks, that was...helpful." She glanced at Bella and saw the blush form on her cheeks. So clearly she had seen the supply of condoms. Stacked in the kitchen pantry.

"Some of these things should be in the bathroom cabinets," Esme said as she picked up a packet of baby cereal and smiled. She shook her head and replaced it, and shut the door.

"You probably guessed they have never done a grocery run before," she said to Bella who smiled and kept cutting the meat.

The whole family sat down to eat and Bella passed around serving dishes of mashed potatoes and green beans and carrots and a gravy boat. Everyone took a little of everything and Carlisle smiled at her.

"It looks delicious, Bella. Thank you for making this for us."

Rose had barely anything on her plate and she scowled at Emmett when he offered her the corn on the cob.

"So, do you usually say 'Grace' or anything?" Carlisle asked.

"No, we aren't into organized religion," Bella replied. Carlisle was relieved, the only words he could have used were from such a distant past, Bella would never have understood their meaning.

The distractions began, and the vampires took turns shedding food items into the kitchen tidy as someone else spoke to Bella. She barely had time to eat as she was questioned about her father, her absent mother, her house, her garden, her truck, and her job. Edward hung on every word and listened with real interest, unlike the others who just wanted this meal over.

Finally, the human girl emptied her plate and Alice jumped up and cleared the table.

Edward instantly offered to go empty the little bin into the outside trash can and hurriedly removed the offensive smelling item from the room.

Esme stacked the dishwasher and got it going, cleaning away the leftover smears and she sighed with relief as the kitchen filled with the smell of dishwashing cleaner instead of cooked meat. She silently slid the windows open and flapped the stale air outside with a hand moving at vampire speed.

Phew.

She saw Alice making a dash for the woods and rightly assumed it was the girl's first chance to rid herself of lunch. No wonder she had barely managed to stay for the entire evening meal.

"So, cards or chess?" Carlisle asked and Bella delighted in being a part of a family that didn't immediately flop in front of the television after a meal.

Jasper and Emmett set up a chess board, having both refused to let Edward play. He sat down beside Bella and Carlisle smirked as he dealt out the cards.

"I'm sure we will all play fairly and not peep at anyone else's hand," he said with a grin. Bella shook her head, surely everyone here was too old to try anything that childish?

The games ended fairly evenly, although Alice and Edward competed madly against one another, and Bella was glad she was playing against Carlisle. So competitive, maybe all siblings were like that, how would she know.

Around midnight, Emmett and Rose announced they were going to bed and Bella noticed an instant feeling of tension and knew she was overstaying her welcome. The Cullen family clearly wanted to retire for the night and catch some sleep.

"I should go," she said, standing and thanking her hosts for their hospitality.

Edward walked her outside and she put the clothes from Alice into the back seat of his Volvo and slipped the pea coat on her body.

Edward smiled and handed her his keys.

"I had a few drinks with Emmett when you were challenging my father, I shouldn't drive," he said and Bella all but cheered out loud.

"I can collect my car tomorrow. Sorry I can't take you home myself."

"It would never do for the Police Chief to catch you drink driving anyway," Bella said, taking the keys and sliding into the driver's seat gratefully. Edward closed the door and she sped off into the night. He waved as she left and she threw him a hurried wave back and began looking for the spot she had been stranded.

In minutes she found it, and she parked the Volvo well off the road, and took a few steps into the blackness of the woods.

"Well, look who it is,my Kathy," the velvety voice of her lover stated, lifting her in the dark into his arms.

Bella smiled and put her arms around his neck, just a little sorry clearly Heathcliff was not Edward Cullen, as she had briefly hoped and dreamed. Edward had been at home, and no car had passed her on the road. Clearly he could not have beaten her here.

Oh well, what was the saying? They all look the same in the dark.

"You like my jacket?" he asked.

"I love your jacket. It smells like you," she replied.

"I kept your red jacket for the same reason," he answered, nuzzling her neck as he carried her deeper inside the forest. "And your panties. I hope you wore some more so I can have them as well."

Bella grinned and wondered how many pairs of lace panties and thongs were in those parcels she had never opened from Renee? Plenty, she hoped.

He stopped and Bella heard the sound of a zip opening and he leaned forward and stepped inside something.

"Is this a tent?" she asked, as he lay her down gently on an air mattress. She could see nothing, once again. The mattress dinted with her body and she felt warm blankets fall over her and she realised her clothes had gone. Just like that. All she wore was her tiny thong.

Heathcliff lay beside her, pulling a blanket between them, and he stroked along her side and kissed her gently.

"I've missed you, my Kathy. I hope you didn't get hurt too much? Was I too rough? I will try my best to be gentle with you."

"I'm fine. I wouldn't have come back if you had hurt me," she reassured him, running her hands through his hair. She wished she could feel the color. His hair was so very soft, and so addictive. She didn't want to let it go.

He slipped from her grasp and she felt him lower, between her thighs that sprang apart before he even tried to part them himself. He chuckled and stroked along her thong, pulling it aside and replacing it with his mouth. His tongue felt amazing and Bella forgot what she had meant to say to him as he entered her folds and stroked her with that tongue again.

"God," she sighed, and opened her legs wider. "I never knew..."

Heathcliff started the slow licking that had excited her before and then he gently sucked her inside his mouth and continued stroking. Bella had no hope of any control at all, and she shook against his mouth and felt her entire body throb and her heartbeat raced. The tsunami hit quickly and she rolled with it. My God, how much more could she stand?

He licked her clean and she shivered at his touch on the oversensitive area.

"Let me do that to you," she asked and felt him still.

"I...I don't know if that would be safe."

Bella laughed. "I won't bite, I promise. I've never done it before, but I have seen it done. In porn."

Suddenly he was there, at her mouth and she ran her hand along his erection and felt how cold it was. Well, her mouth was warm and she placed her hand around his shaft at the base, and slid the rest inside her lips. God, he was big, lucky she had grabbed the Extra Large condoms.

The thought of this being inside her body again excited Bella and she put her all into sucking him off. He writhed and his hands were softly on her head, guiding her, and she relaxed and rolled her tongue around his tip and found the tiny slit there. She teased her tongue across it and pushed the very tip of her tongue inside and he cried out in ecstasy.

She could feel him becoming impossibly harder and longer and she almost gagged as she worked him deep down in her throat and then, suddenly, he was gone. Her mouth was empty and she felt and heard him stream onto the ground.

"I would have swallowed," she said, and she felt his arms embrace her body. How he moved so fast from one position to another was a mystery.

"I would never do anything that may harm you," he whispered, and her body goosed in response to his sexy as voice.

"Nobody ever got pregnant from swallowing," she answered.

"Pregnant? I...I couldn't make you pregnant. That is impossible," he replied.

"Good but I brought a condom, just to be sure. Okay, I may have bought a packet but you can keep them. I don't need my father finding them and following me around when I come moon watching."

"Moon watching?" Heathcliff questioned.

"It's a hobby. I plan to walk into the forest and search for the moon. What can I say? I may be the first moon watcher ever, but God knows, it could catch on if other watchers met a man like you," she sighed.

"A man like me," he echoed, with a sad laugh.

"Heathcliff, every girl would love to find a man like you. Believe me. I wish I was generous enough to share you but that won't happen."

"I would not want to be with any girl but you, my Kathy," he assured her, pulling her to his mouth and kissing her until she feared blacking out. Well, she didn't fear it but he must have detected the change in her breathing and he released her in time to inhale deeply and stop the stars shining in her brain.

"Moon watching can be dangerous," she laughed. He cuddled his body around hers and stroked her breasts.

"I will keep you safe. I will always keep you safe, my Kathy."

She believed him.

"I just need to know one thing. You don't have to answer but I would like to know."

"Ask then, out loud," he replied.

"You don't have a wife or a girlfriend, do you?"

"No, my Kathy. You are my wife and my girlfriend. Only you."

"Good. Now I can rest my conscience and just enjoy this, for however long it lasts. You will tell me when it gets to the stage where you don't want me any more, won't you? I don't want to get lost in the forest, looking for you if you are gone."

"I promise I will be here, every night, until you send me away," he promised.

"Have you done this before? Met unknown women in the dark and had sex with them?" she asked. "It's okay, you can tell me the truth."

"I have never made love before, until I met you. Never had sex in any form. Never wanted to. Only you excite my body and make me do things I thought I would save until met my mate and took her for my bride."

"Whoa, I hope I haven't spoiled that for you."

"Never, my Kathy. I was made to love you and I will do that, unless you decide I cannot have you any more. On that day only shall I give you up and leave your life."

"Well that won't be any day soon," she replied.

They lay together in their embrace and she felt her body warm his. She did wonder what type of health issue he had, as he clearly had no problem maintaining his erection. She could feel it behind her, brushing against her back as he spooned his body around her.

He started to push inside her, from the back and she grabbed her purse and pulled out a small silver packet.

"I need you to use this," she said, pushing it into his hand that rested on her breast.

"What is it?" he asked, looking at the foil packet. Moisturiser? The type Alice had bought today?

"It's a condom, you need to...well, I could put it on you," she offered and he felt her sit up and manoeuvre herself to face him. Her hands reached for his length and he felt her unroll the latex onto him and he had flashes inside his mind, of humans doing this, a million times. He had never stayed to watch and had never even wondered what the 'love glove' was for. Now he let an old half forgotten scene play out in his head and he realized this was to save her body from the invasion of his venom.

He smiled at the thought he would not have to leave her, and pull out to release, now.

He very much wanted to come inside her and now it seemed she had found a way.

He lay down again and pulled her closer so her back was flush with his chest. He inched inside and started the dance and felt her body grip his and he waited for her to adjust to being filled.

"Oh my God," she murmured, rocking back against him.

"Do you like this? Do I make you feel good?" he whispered.

"God yes. Better than ever before," she answered, and he became even more excited and plunged in and out, taking utmost care not to hurt her. His fingers felt for her most sensitive area and stroked her lightly as he thrust inside her, and pulled out, repeating the movement over and over and feeling her body respond as he hit her g spot.

He quickened both the frequency of his lunges and the soft stroking at the front of her body and he felt her quiver in anticipation.

"You are going to feel intense pleasure in both places at once, I am going to make you orgasm inside and out," he whispered in her ear and she gasped as he followed through.

"Heathcliff," she screamed as her body lit up all over and she felt herself let go in pure ecstasy both within and under his fingertips, just as he had said.

She couldn't speak again, she lay in his embrace and felt the waves roll from inside and outside and they met and clashed and pulled her down and drowned her in their intensity.

She didn't know which way was up, where the surface was, but she couldn't bring herself to care.

"Bella" he cried out as his own body was whipped to a height to match her own and he felt his seed flee his body and try to go to into hers. The latex held and he felt her pulse around him madly and he pulsed back and felt her rock and shake with him. That was amazing. Knowing he had the capacity to feel and give so much more than even this, he felt his lips on her neck, wanting to change her. Wanting to make her like him, so they could really feel what their bodies would be able to do if only she...

He stilled his teeth and sucked instead, feeling his old scar against his lips, stroking it with his tongue.

He could not change her. Not unless she fully understood the consequences. Maybe one day but for now, this was all he could do for her.

He carefully withdrew and ripped the condom away. His seed soaked the ground beside them.

"Heathcliff," she cooed and he realized what he had called out. Not 'Kathy', but 'Bella'. Luckily she had not been in any state to notice.

Her body sagged beside his and he wrapped her in his embrace and held her tightly.

God, he wanted her, he wanted to keep her and take her home and put her in that bed she loved and to make love to her again and again, all night, all day.

He breathed in her essence and licked at his scar and hoped.

God, please. I know I'm not worthy but if you love me at all, please let me have her. Forever.

"I love being with you, like this. I love how you make my body feel. I love you, just a little," she cried and he held her close and kissed her head.

"I love you, too, my Kathy. More than just a little, but for now, it's enough."

Bella gazed at him, wishing she could see his face for surely it was as beautiful as his soul. Her mind conjured up the face she wanted him to have and she allowed herself to imagine she lay in Edward's arms and he was the one saying the sweet words to her. That was unfair, to Heathcliff but she had no face to picture of his.

"You have to go. Your father is sleeping uneasily and he will fully wake soon. He worries when you aren't at home, in your bed," he whispered, and he started to dress her. He kissed each part of her naked flesh as he slid each garment on, at human speed. He had not ripped anything, except the lace thong that had not survived the assault of his mouth earlier.

He slid the scrap of lace into his own pocket as he instantly clothed himself, seeing she could not see him anyway, she would not know he dressed too fast for a human.

Once they were as fully clothed as he intended her to be, he breathed on the pea coat and made it smell more strongly of him. He knew she craved his scent and her nose was nowhere as sensitive as his, so he gave her the only gift he could.

He wrapped her in the coat and she held the collar against her nose.

"Come back to me, soon, my Kathy. I will be here, every night."

"So will I, if it's humanly possible," she replied and he laughed at her word choices.

He kissed her again, moving his tongue deeply inside her mouth and she accepted the challenge and massaged his back with her own. God, if the entire universe ended right now, he wouldn't have cared.

But the hope they could be like this, only more, only better, kept playing in his head.

Edward had to do better, he had to entrance and bedazzle and make Bella fall in love with him as Heathcliff was making Kathy.

"I love you," the wind whispered as Bella opened her eyes and found herself beside the borrowed car.

She climbed in and smiled as she headed home, to Charlie.


	6. Chapter 6

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 6

Bella placed the pea coat beside her pillow and stripped before heading for the bathroom. Once again, her skin was lightly shining and the rainbow sparkle washed off under the shower. It didn't seem to be moist at all, just like a layer of shiny dust almost.

Strange.

She dried hurriedly and pulled on the Tshirt Heathcliff had left in the forest that first night. She liked to sleep in it, although his scent was almost gone now. It was still his and for that reason alone she cherished it.

Monday dawned rather brighter that most days here in dreary Forks and she happily searched for something more summery to wear. Oh, the parcels. She could take a little time and see what they all held.

Soon her bed was covered in piles of what Bella would have called until recently, indecent panties, but now she smiled and laughed at each pair. They were in all colors of the rainbow and all styles, the only common theme was they were all very tiny.

There were blouses, many blouses, all once again, with a similar theme. Low cut was the recurring style. Bella would not have worn them in days gone by but now she had these pretty bras,in pile number three, she decided she would indeed be dressing her boobs to show off a little.

She pulled on a new pair of jeans from Alice's shopping spree and and headed downstairs.

Charlie looked up from the breakfast table and raised his eyebrows.

"You look very...different. Nice. I see you've been shopping."

"It was Alice, you know how she is. She found some fashion outlet that sells off the seconds though I can't find anything wrong with anything, they seem perfect. I guess the rich are terribly fussy about quality. And I opened Mom's parcels and gained some new...stuff."

"Well good, you should keep some of your wage and spend it on yourself. Maybe Alice could take you to this discount store and you could choose some clothes for yourself. Look , did you see the reviews for Victoria's last book?"

He slid a section of his newspaper across to her and Bella sighed as she read the endless words of praise for Victoria, the woman who could barely write her own name now.

"You have done an amazing job, I know you wrote the entire book from a single page of notes she gave you."

"Hmm, it was easier than this one we are doing now. She thinks she needs to contribute more so she's writing dialogue again."

"Ouch, I can't imagine that has gotten any better?"

"Nope, fifty seven pages of the hero debating with his friend whom she forgot to mention or name earlier, about the merits of single sex schools, yet there are no children in the entire book. I cut it to a two sentence comment in a coffee shop when another customer is overheard talking about the perils of private school education. It adds nothing to the storyline but Vic will see it there and be satisfied. So, Dad, an opinion please. Dominic, Damian or Diarmaird? The hero needs a name."

"They are all a bit sissified for me. What's wrong with real men's names? You can do a lot worse than stick with William or Edward or Harry. Good solid names."

"Edward," Bella repeated longingly.

"Don't say it like that. ED-ward. Like a man."

"Sure, like a man," she grinned. "So we have no votes for any of the three I mentioned?"

"Put it this way, no son of mine would get lumbered with any of those airy-fairy names. Dermott? What kind of name is that?"

"I was going to spell it the fancy way, Diarmaird."

"Even worst. Is this hero a shirt lifter?"

Bella scowled and shook her head. Though maybe having a novel about a pair of gay lovers might work. Maybe one of the pair could be the brother of the fair maiden?

"Okay, I'm going to work now. Thanks for your opinion. Now, you have a shift today but not into the night, correct? You need me home to cook dinner."

"About that, Bells. Sue Clearwater invited me to her place and kind of implied maybe she would like some company. Tonight. All night."

"Great, I had tentative plans anyway." Bella managed to keep the look of complete shock from her face. Charlie was sleeping with Sue? That was news. She wondered how long this had being going on.

"Are you going out on a date?" Charlie asked, showing interest.

"More or less, now I should go." A knock sounded at their front door and Bella opened it and stood still, surprised to see Edward until she remembered she still had his car.

"Oh, of course, I will get your keys. Did Alice drop you off here?"

"Sure," Edward replied. That seemed like the most plausible scenario.

"Is she still out the front?"Bella asked and he frowned. "No, she left. She said to say hi."

Bella smiled as she handed the keys over and Charlie walked out from the kitchen.

"Dad, Edward lent me his car last night," Bella explained.

"You didn't drive her home yourself?" Charlie replied with a hint of irritation.

"I had a few drinks and I would never do anything that could harm Bella," Edward answered smugly.

His words made Bella think of Heathcliff and his promises to never harm her either and she smiled at Edward.

"So, I have to get to work. Thanks again," she said and Edward opened the front door for her.

"Bye Bells. Good to see you, Edward. Good honest name, that. Edward. Think about it, Bella. If you want the readers to know he is a real man."

"Sure Dad, bye. Have a great night at Sue's," she said, pulling on her new blue coat. It fit her perfectly. This way she could keep the pea coat inside and hopefully preserve the scent on it.

"Your father is sleeping over at the Res?" Edward asked without thinking but she missed his slip up. Hearing everything around he often said too much and made the humans think he read minds. Which he did. But he had to take more care now, around this girl.

"Yeah, but I am a big girl. I can sleep here alone," Bella replied, though she rather imagined she would be asking someone back to share her bed herself.

"I was wondering if you would like to go out with me, on a date?" Edward asked. "Tonight."

"Oh," Bella replied, surprised. "You and me, on a date? Sure, why not?"

Her conscience prickled her immediately. But nobody had mentioned the word exclusive and she was young and free, it wasn't like she and Heathcliff were engaged or anything.

She hadn't even seen his face though she planned to change that, tonight.

"Maybe I could drive you to work, see how you look in your office?" Edward suggested.

"Okay, fine."

"Then tonight I could drive you home to change and we could paint the town whatever color you choose."

"I believe the saying is paint the town red," she replied.

"Red. So reminiscent of blood," Edward murmured.

Bella directed him to her office and he followed her upstairs. She unlocked the door and opened the windows and Edward leaned against the desk.

"So, Victoria Jameson writes and you edit?" he said, walking around the room as Bella put coffee on to boil. He paused at the single page of scrawled words framed on the wall.

"What's this?"

Bella laughed. "That is her entire last book, Pocketful of Miracles. She handed me that note and told me to make it into a book."

Edward read the few lines.

_**Justin Merewether is rich and famous and rich. And he owns a yacht. And his wife drowned but she didn't really. And she is plotting her revenge because he pushed her overboard. Because she was screwing the butler. Maybe the butler is a woman? Woman can but. Buttle. Buttlerer. Do whatever the fuck butler's do. Write it. Make it good and put in hot sex. Hot butler sex. And a budgerigar.**_

"You wrote an entire book from that?" Edward asked in awe. He had read the reviews this morning at 'breakfast". Emmett had decided to stock the fridge with bottles of deer blood so they could drink in the comfort of their own home, but Edward had warned him, that fridge better be empty before Bella's next visit. An empty fridge was one thing, she would never believe any explanation for one full of blood.

He had helped himself rather than chase breakfast on the hoof.

Alice had wholeheartedly approved and had added a slice of lemon and ice cubes to her glassful.

"I guess this is a genuine Bloody Mary," she had laughed.

"I really write over 99% of all of her books now. At first, five years ago, I just edited and tidied them up and made sure the story line stayed constant. Gradually she forgot what she had started and changed the plot and the characters mid story, so we decided she should just give me an outline and I do the rest."

"Like the teacher saying write a funny story about a dog and a new pair of shoes," Edward suggested. He had heard a teacher say that to a class at Forks Elementary when he was driving past once.

"Exactly."

"Then you should insist on being named as her co-author. It's wrong that your name does not appear anywhere on the cover."

"She does dedicate some of them to me. See. _For Bella, whose help is invaluable."_

"Help. I agree you are invaluable but you deserve your name on the cover. Call her up and threaten to quit right now if she doesn't agree."

Bella bit her lip and saw Edward's eyes hone in on them immediately. The bright yellow of his eyes seemed to darken and change to almost black. How weird.

She released her lip and picked up the phone.

"You realize if she calls my bluff, I am unemployed," she warned him.

"You could come work for me."

"Um, what would a doctor need a ghost writer for?"

"The system is full of paperwork these days, you could do mine."

"I think the law demands you do that yourself," Bella replied. "Are you working at present?"

"Um, no, I'm resting. Having a gap year."

"Don't people usually take those before college?" she asked as Vic's phone rang.

"I just needed a break after all the studying and stuff," Edward replied.

"Hi Victoria, I wanted to run an idea by you. I got offered a job as a co-author and I realized, that is really what I am for you, so I was wondering if you thought it would be fair to add my name to the cover as such from this book forward, or if I should quit and take the other position?"

Edward smiled as he heard the woman choke and agree instantly that Bella's name should go beside her own. And she immediately doubled Bella's wage as a 'gesture of good faith" to express how much she appreciated her.

Edward smiled and looked out the window. The sky was turning greyer by the minute.

Just the perfect weather for him to take her somewhere outdoors, and not have to hide himself away inside. If he took her out as often as he could, she wouldn't realize how often the sun made him hide. She would instead be thinking they had been outside together a lot, just sadly the weather seemed to know and turn against them. Like today.

Edward quickly wrote down a few words in his beautiful copperplate script and passed the note across the desk to her.

_Tell her you are taking the day off._

"Vic, I'm having a problem connecting to the new hero. I need a week off to get to know him and flesh him out. I will have my cell phone on me at all times, for emergencies but I'm locking the office and going somewhere that I can think and get to know this new man."

She grinned at her half truths.

Edward smiled back and raised his eyebrows. He wondered if he was about to be used as the inspiration for this newest hero type human man.

Bella was positively buzzing by the time she ended the call.

She unthinkingly threw herself into Edward's arms.

"Thank you, it just never occurred to me to stand up to her and demand she credit me fairly for my work. I can't wait to see my name on the cover of this book."

He smiled and kissed the top of her head, so she would not be able to detect the coldness of his lips. He felt happy for that one moment until he felt her stiffen and pull back.

"Edward, your coat...it smells."

"Bad?" he replied.

"No it smells like...the other pea coat. Mine. My friend's coat."

"I expect they are all made of the same fibre. They looked identical. I guess they all smell the same."

Her face dropped. Was she addicted not to Heathcliff's scent but merely to the smell of wool blend?

"Come on, you need to get in touch with your new man," he said happily, lightening the mood.

"What's my name? In the book?"

"Victoria didn't name you, she is all out of ideas for names so it's Hero X and Blushing Bride To Be. Charlie thinks I should give him a manly, strong name, like Edward," she smirked.

"Well, it's not as catchy as Romeo or Heathcliff," he replied, "But it is a strong name. I like it, myself."

Bella wondered for an instant if this was a sign. Edward mentioning Heathcliff. Was she crossing into dangerous waters by dating two men at once? But the universe owed her, it was hardly her fault men were like buses. You could wait for an age and never see one, then along came two together.

Okay, maybe other passengers just got on board one, but she rather liked both buses and didn't see why she couldn't try both and see who gave her the smoothest ride.

She didn't have to get sexually involved with Edward. There was no law saying you had to sleep with the guy you dated. Or had to stop sleeping with your lover just because you were dating someone else.

Many men had a girlfriend they could take home to meet the parents and a lover who was their secret obsession and would never pass muster as anything other than what she was, his whore.

Was Heathcliff her whore or did they have potential to be a real couple? Tonight, she would find out. She would ask him to reveal himself to her and if he refused, then she would know the truth.

They were fuckbuddies, nothing more. The pretty words didn't change the truth. If he didn't want to show her his face and meet her Dad, then she would firmly put him in the friends with benefits column.

Not necessarily stop seeing him, though.

Not unless things with Edward got serious.

That seemed fair, in her mind and she collected her purse and locked the door behind them.

"So, where are we going?" she asked.

Edward considered the best place to take her and immediately his meadow came to mind. No sun to reveal his secret, what could be better than taking her to show her just how beautiful their world could be? No, he should wait. Get to know her better first, before showing her too much of himself.

"I thought we could go to the beach. It seems like the perfect weather for it," he replied and opened the car door for her.

Bella smiled, it was so strange meeting a man who did things like this. Like he stepped straight out of a gentler time, when men actually treasured their women and didn't hesitate to show them and treat them with respect. He was almost a character from a novel about the olden days, maybe the early 1900's. Oh to have lived back then and been cherished.

Things were so different now. Men just expected to take what they wanted and for you to be willing to give your all and not hassle them if they changed their minds and moved on. Or cheated on you.

Maybe that had happened back then too but at least the wives had no knowledge of it. No emails to accidentally find, no text messages sent to the wrong phone with your husband saying how he loved you and adored your blue eyes, when yours were brown. Then tried to lie his way out of it and claim he had just gotten the color wrong.

Modern relationships left her cold. She had seen so many of her friends fall in love then fall apart when the man they truly thought was their One, gave away some little clue of his duplicity and the devastation took over and Bella had always been the shoulder to cry on.

And her own mother had been no example to follow.

Maybe marriage was pointless, maybe she should just bite the bullet and have some fun with both men that had appeared and were interested in her. It had never happened before, and if you factored in Jake, her ever hopeful wannabe , she was doing rather well. Three men, all after Bella Swan in one way or the other.

Alice would probably high five her.

Jessica would give her tips on how to make sure she called out the right name at the right time.

Bella laughed, God, was she putting the cart before the horse or what? For all she knew, Edward was just after the same thing Heathcliff was currently getting from her.

Maybe he was between hook ups? Maybe he was getting lazy about going further afield to find his one night stands?

She had to admit, in reality she knew very little about him at all, and had no proof he was a manwhore. It was just with those amazing looks, who wouldn't be? What man would refuse to take advantage? His face, his voice, even his smell, it all drew her in and no doubt he affected a lot of women in the same way.

Oh well, she was pretty sure her hook ups with Heathcliff were probably sending her to Hell, maybe she should just buckle up and enjoy the ride.

I mean, if I'm going to Hell anyway...she reasoned.

The beach was blustery and the waves choppy but Edward seemed invigorated by the conditions, if anything. He wore thickly lined leather gloves and offered her a pair out of the glove box. Bella accepted them, no way was she freezing her fingers off just to have some fun. These hands were vital to earn her living.

"Hey, wait for me," she yelled as he took off up the beach at a run. He turned back to watch her as she stumbled along at half his pace and he laughed as she almost fell, trying to avoid a seagull who had decided to land right in her path.

Suddenly, it seemed, he was right there, taking her elbow, helping her regain her balance.

His lips looked so inviting, she had to suck in her own and bite the bottom lip firmly to prevent it seeking his out.

Tart.

Honestly, was one man not enough for her? She had to admit, she was falling in like with Edward Cullen, and quickly. Not love, she was not deluded, but definitely like.

He dragged her along with him, laughing as the wind ripped at their clothing, glad she had the gloves.

Suddenly he stopped and she stumbled straight into his arms. His lips were on hers in a flash and she smiled at their coldness. Hers were just as cold but her brain, of course, had to flicker and think of Heathcliff's cold lips. They felt much the same as Edward's, to be honest. Well Edward in the cold wind. No doubt his lips were usually as warm as toast. She looked forward to finding out.

"Coffee," she yelled when he let her go, and stepped back from her.

"Yes, coffee," he laughed and turned back towards the car park, where The Coffee Shack stood, strong and sure against the wind.

Bella wanted latte, Edward elected the brew with the least additions, just plain black. No sugar, no milk. This would be bad enough to eject again later, and it would be ice cold by then. For now, he wanted it for one reason only. It would warm him, temporarily.

He held the cup between his hands, bare now, and let the heat warm his cold skin. He lowered his face so the steam drifted over it, and he sipped the putrid tasting brew and held it in his mouth for a few seconds before swallowing.

Bella was doing much the same, for the same reason. She was freezing cold and it was thawing her out.

The moment she finished, he tossed back the remainder of his own and swallowed with a single gulp and ushered her outside, to the side of the building protected from the icy onslaught.

The wind howled and whistled and he pulled Bella in close and pounced on her lips, with his temporarily warm ones.

She opened her own lips without being asked by his tongue and he explored her mouth, warm tongue to warmed tongue, and he was loathe to ever end the kiss.

Bella pulled back at last, when it seemed she may well pass out from lack of oxygen if she didn't.

Her eyes were bright but he could see the conflict there as well. Her conscience was bothering her and he knew why. He had no such qualms, his Bella was his Kathy, and he loved them both.

She was a little in love with Heathcliff but she was fast finding Edward even more appealing than she had expected.

He kissed her again, before the lingering warmth left him cold again.

Bella let him pull her body in close to his, and they touched from toes to mouths, and his hand was on the small of her back, closing the gap between them.

Bella moaned a little and Edward felt her body change. Her nipples pebbled and became erect, her sex glistened and became damp, the aroma of her arousal filled his nostrils.

God, how he wanted her.

But he couldn't have her.

Not here, not like this.

"Hey, we should go somewhere warmer," he suggested and they ran to the car.

The cinema was open, and not too crowded and more to the point, they sold coffee. In cardboard takeaway cups.

Edward bought them both some and Bella chose various snacks but he declined for himself, telling her he was in training and on a special diet. No junk food.

She ate happily, trying to tempt him with various strange smelling treats, and he managed to avoid them all except for a slither of chocolate she slid into his mouth as he was turning to speak. He could hardly spit it out so he let it melt and washed it down his throat with coffee.

It seemed perfectly justified to kiss her again, as her punishment and she writhed against him, in his arms as his tongue moved in her mouth like another part of his anatomy was begging to move inside a whole different part of her.

He got a refill, twice of his black coffee and he could see she thought he was a caffeine junkie, seeing she had no way of knowing that part had no effect on him. It was the warmth he craved, the feeling of being like she was. Warm lips, warm breath,warm tongue.

He wanted to cry because he could not change back into what she was. Even that simple action, crying, was no longer possible, he could only cry inside his cold, still heart. He wanted to be warm blooded and warm bodied himself and then there would never be a need to commit the atrocity of taking this away from her.

Dinner was at her house, with her father gone why wouldn't a human take advantage? He wished he could take her upstairs and make love to her here, in her own home but he knew she had plans and he was not about to interfere. Not yet.

He managed to avoid eating anything more yet he drank more coffee and he disposed of the uneaten food when she was taking a human moment upstairs.

"I should go," he said, holding her lightly by the hips.

"I guess," she replied and he saw the conflict and rejoiced. Already, she was considering blowing off her 'date' with Heathcliff in favor of staying here with him. But his alter ego deserved one last night.

His phone trilled and he answered.

"Oh really, Alice, of course. When will you be here? Five minutes? See you then."

"What's happened?" Bella asked.

"I have something I need to do tonight. I'm sorry that I can't explain. Alice is driving me, so can I leave my car here?"

"Sure, you can get it tomorrow," Bella replied.

"You feel free to drive it, if you need to go anywhere," he invited her. He just wanted more of her aroma in that small area. Especially the aroma of her after love making. That was his favorite scent of all.

"Goodnight, Bella," he said quietly and licked his lips. Still warm.

He kissed her with all the passion she had aroused in him and she was left shaking, ready to beg him to stay, when Alice arrived.

Just in a nick of time.

"See you bright and early," he promised. "have a good night. Bella, do what you need to do. I understand."

"Come on, we have to go all the way to Seattle," Alice complained loudly, and sped away.

Bella almost stayed home but then, she should give Heathcliff a chance.

One chance.

He showed himself or this was it. Over.

She parked the Volvo in her usual place and stayed in the car for a few minutes. Clearly torn, clearly unsure if she even wanted one last night with her first lover, she finally alighted and locked the car. Three steps inside the woods she felt herself lifted and carried, to their love tent. The pitch black was as impenetrable as ever and she got not a single glimpse of his face.

"My Kathy," he murmured in her hair and she sat back and thought it through.

"Heathcliff, I need more."

"More, my Kathy?"

"Will you come to my house with me tonight? There's nobody else there, it will be just us. We need to talk. We need to see one another in the light. I love what we have been doing but I think we need to either show ourselves or let this go. "

"Ah, you are leaving me, my Kathy," he said but not as sadly as she had expected.

"You love another."

She frowned at his conclusion but then, it was almost right. That was the way things seemed to be heading, after a single day in Edward's exclusive company.

"Can we have one last night?" he asked, touching her gently, on the face, on the arms, his hands seemed to be everywhere at once.

Bella felt maybe this was wrong, after all, she had admitted she now had feelings for another man but the things he was doing to her made her resolve weaken.

He gently kissed her neck and up along her jawline and then his cold lips covered hers and he sucked in that lower lip that had spent much of the day inside Edward's mouth.

This is wrong, this is wrong, this is wrong.

How can it have gone from so right to so wrong so quickly?

There had never been promises or expectations beyond the physical.

But she knew.

Whereas today she had only been the slightest bit concerned about being with Edward behind Heathcliff's back, tonight all she could think was, how would she feel tomorrow when she had to confess to Edward where she had been tonight?

Her body had been awakened and wanted completion but this whole thing had been crazy from the start. This was not her, surely, not the real Bella Swan?

"Heathcliff, no," she sighed sadly as his lips started to ignite her nipples through her clothing.

"You are thinking of him. I don't care, just let me make love to you one last time. Please, my Bella."

She jerked in his arms.

"You know who I am?" she asked, surprised.

"You are my Kathy," he replied.

"You just called me Bella," she fired back. "At least, tell me your name, even if you won't let me see you."

"I am whoever you want me to be," he replied.

"Not good enough," she answered. "I will always remember you, show me your face, tell me your name, please."

"Kathy, please give me one last night and I promise to reveal myself on your birthday. It's not that far away. Let me say goodbye properly."

Bella gave in. She had to know who he was, and she had settled for lust before, so maybe she did need to end this with a proper sense of closure. Maybe Edward would even understand. Maybe he was even now, ending something he had started himself. That made sense. Maybe he had a woman of his own he was ending with tonight because he felt as she did. That they had the possibility of being something more than the sum of what they had with their current lovers.

The idea he may be inside some other woman, even as a farewell gesture, inflamed her and even just imagining his body naked, his hips thrusting inside some faceless woman made her only want him more.

"Let me inside you, let me say Goodbye," Heathcliff whimpered with need. Bella kissed him gently and opened her legs, needing this itch scratched.

He sat face to unseen face, her legs around his waist, his legs under her, and she felt him remove each garment for once, slowly, delicately.

"Thank you, Kathy. I will never forget you."

"And you will keep your promise? You will reveal yourself on my birthday?"

"I promise," he replied, and she felt his mouth on her nipple. She threw her head back and let everything go. No more castigating herself. She already knew she was a wanton woman, refusing to do this tonight would not take back the other nights.

She felt his cold, hard erection between them and stroked it, and smiled as he moaned and rocked into her hand. His lips tried to kiss every inch of her and she raised herself and slid him inside her. She was so needy and he was here, willing. This may be wrong but she had not promised herself to Edward. He could not expect her to just end everything in her life to be with him, yet that was what she was doing.

"Give yourself to Heathcliff, this one last time," she told herself.

He filled her completely and she loved the feeling. He had shown her what her body was capable of, and she was grateful. And had Edward not come along, she knew she would have continued these trysts and had no pangs of conscience at all.

He rocked them both and she ground against him and kissed his chest. So cold. His lips returned to her mouth and she felt herself get lost as he started to make her body warm and flutter and feel the rise. God, yes, take me, let me feel you inside me, let me come around you this one last time.

Her body screamed and tried to release all the tension as he pounded her up and down, along his shaft and the friction, if that was what it was, made her body tingle in every cell. They exploded all at once and she almost blacked out yet again, today.

"Edward," she cried into the dark and it was minutes before what she had said registered.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry," she whispered but he didn't seem to care.

"It won't be long, I will have you again," he whispered back and she shook her head sadly.

"No, I have to try and make something between Edward and I. I know it sounds crazy but today I really did fall a little in love and all we did was kiss. There was no sex to confuse me, there was nothing but him and me and a need to know if we could ever make it. I feel like he could be my one, Heathcliff. I'm sure he will be grateful to not have to deal with the whole virginity thing. Thank you, really, thank you. We had some fun, we may have been able to be something ourselves but I need a man who is willing to be open and meet my Dad and be there for me everyday, not just at night. I should go."

"You have no idea how happy you have made me, Bella," he whispered in reply. "I love hearing you have feelings for him. He must be special if you love him already."

She shook her head. How could he be happy this had happened and would keep them apart?

He wasn't sounding like the man who lost, more like the man who won. Nobody was that understanding.

"I can't say that I'm truly, madly, deeply, in love yet but I think it may just happen. Goodbye, Heathcliff."

Her clothes were back, she had been so lost inside her head she hadn't felt him redress her.

He carried her gently and set her down, beside the road, right near the car. Edward's car.

The moon suddenly appeared from behind a cloud and Bella looked up, hopefully, but he was gone, too fast.

"Be safe and have a good life" the wind said.

"Goodbye," she answered.

The drive home was one of relief and new hope. She had closed one book and now she wanted to open another. And what promise the chapters ahead held already.


	7. Chapter 7

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 7

Morning dawned, but it was kind of hard to tell. Cloud cover obscured the sun and almost let the night continue. Bella opened her eyes and lay there thinking about last night.

She had been so...wanton. She should feel as guilty as Hell but all she felt was relief that things had ended as well as they did. No hurt feelings, no angry words, no begging her to reconsider.

What was done was done and there was no changing the past so now she just had to live with it and get on with her life.

Who knows, maybe the thing between her and Edward won't even go anywhere.

And it wasn't as if he would be a virgin, she was certain he would understand sex for the sake of it. What man wouldn't? And why shouldn't women have that same option?

Thus released from any guilt, she showered and dressed in her new denim mini skirt Alice apparently considered decent enough to wear in public and another of Renee's blouses. It was so lucky that Alice had seemed to almost know about this stack of new tops Bella had stashed in her closet, and she had concentrated on jeans and skirts. Such a coincidence, that worked out so well.

She added real stockings, apparently Renee was not a fan of pantyhose, and struggled to get the lacy suspenders just right. Her reflection pleased her and she turned her back to the mirror and bent over, revealing an inviting glimpse of her blue thong and matching suspenders.

And her bra matched too. Nobody would know that but Bella herself, but it made her feel sexy.

She brushed out her long brown hair and considered putting it up, off her neck. Was that a good look? Maybe. Whatever, she should try something new. Maybe get her hair cut, she was not a schoolgirl any longer, twenty five was maybe the right age to get something more mature done with her long tresses.

She kept up a running commentary with herself as she pinned her hair up and said goodbye to her bedroom as she slammed the door behind her.

Breakfast? Coffee. She laughed at the thought of Edward and his coffee addiction. He didn't shake, so that was good. He hadn't hit the point where an intervention was called for, but the man did love his java.

She filled the coffee pot and put it on while she browsed for food. Charlie rarely food shopped, it was all her own responsibility, and she had neglected so much here this past week.

Today she would fit in a visit to the supermarket. Maybe she should do that first thing, before Edward materialized?

Think of the man and he shall appear. He knocked and Bella almost danced to the front door.

"Good morning Bella. You look amazing today," he purred and she saw him eyeing, of all things, her throat, appreciatively. Most men would have stared at the boobs. He clearly had more class.

"Coffee?" she asked with a smirk, like he could say no.

"Exactly what I was thinking," Edward replied, taking off his pea coat and scarf and laying it across the back of a chair.

Bella pounced on the coat, holding it closer to her nose than was strictly polite in the circumstances, and breathed him in. God, these coats smelled amazing.

She stood there for a full minute before noticing his grin as he watched her.

"I should...hang this up. Don't want it getting creased, or..."

Stolen? It's aroma was stronger than her other coat already and she wondered if he would notice if she...

"Edward, could you check in your car and see if I left my...um...purse? I can't find it anywhere?"

He almost laughed at her and she scowled. The minute he closed the front door behind him, she bolted upstairs and swapped jackets, leaving his inside her bed, tossing the covers over it. Then she took the less fragrant jacket downstairs and was innocently hanging it in the hall closet when he returned.

"Nope, no purse," he smirked, then he lifted the very obvious red purse from where it sat right before their eyes, on the sideboard.

"Would this be it?"

"Um, no, I used my other purse last night, it's...white. Yes, I have lost my white purse," she muttered. She had never seen the need for having more than one purse before.

"So, you went out last night?" Edward asked, casually, causing her heart to suddenly beat erratically. So much for just forgetting and moving on.

"Did you have a good time? Did you enjoy yourself?" he asked.

Bella knew she was blushing beetroot red and decided to tell all, before it turned on her and became some secret she would have to guard against revealing. She was such a hopeless liar. Every time she tried, whoever she was trying to scam would roll their eyes and maybe pat her hand and say something like "Of course you did, dear."

God she hated the fact she alone never got away with a single little untruth. She readily believed everything anyone else told her.

"Edward, I have been sort of seeing someone. My lover. Last night we broke things off."

"Nothing he needed to keep and use again, I hope," he smirked.

"Will you be serious and listen, please. Heath..and I were meeting and having sex, and yesterday I started to think maybe you and I...well, anyway, I broke things off with Heath and it's over."

"Okay, thanks for telling me," he replied. "I broke up with my lady last night as well. I guess we both think what we could have could be good, then? You are willing to give us a chance?"

It had been just as she had thought. He had needed to finish something as well.

"So, you and she are over? For sure? You have no regrets?"

"Bella, one always has a few regrets when they leave their first lover. But you and I have amazing potential and we need to give it a try."

"Your first lover?" she choked. My God, she had been so wrong about him. They were on an even playing field after all. But then, maybe he had been with 'her' for years.

Edward read her face. He may not have access into her mind but her face showed every thought anyway.

"We hadn't been together long, so it was no real hardship," he assured her.

"Okay, I'm just stunned someone like you hasn't had a string of lovers already," she confessed.

"Oh, I've never felt the need to do more than enjoy the bouquet, without drinking the wine," he replied with a wink that dampened her panties. God, come drink my wine, she thought then blushed, scared she may have said that out loud.

Edward merely smiled and walked closer, pulling her into his arms and kissing the top of her head. Bella turned her face up towards him for one of his amazing kisses and he pulled back and touched his own lips.

"God, I need coffee. My brain refuses to function without coffee, I think I've forgotten how to kiss," he said, letting her go and walking into the kitchen. He got down two coffee cups and started pouring the pungent liquid out.

Bella scowled a little in disappointment, she was hoping her lips were as irresistible to him as his were to her. Clearly not.

She opened the fridge and saw Edward scan the contents.

"I need to shop. I should do that first thing and get it over and done with," she said.

"You need more food than this?" he asked, moving to stand beside her as she got the cream jug out.

"Edward, two jars of jam, half a packet of bacon, a bottle of milk and some mixed berries? Yes, we need more food. We aren't on a health kick like you. We eat bad things. I know meat is murder and all that but it's juicy, delicious murder and we tend to eat rather a lot of red meat.

Charlie lets me do the cooking which is a blessing, as he pleads he can't boil water seeing he isn't a scientist. Renee was the worst cook on the planet. She invented her own recipes and some of the things she made were vile. Like her belief coating things with chocolate made them taste good. I mean, yes if it was ice cream or cookies, not so enjoyable if it was something savoury. Her veggie shakes with chocolate flavoring were really bad."

"No chocolate on vegetables, got it," he murmured.

"Nobody but Renee would try that anyway, right?" she stated.

"Right," agreed Edward. There must be a food channel on cable he could watch and learn from.

They drank their coffee in silence while both felt their minds reel with thoughts.

Bella was pleased her confession about last night had not caused a problem and was very happy Edward had cleared his own path and got rid of his lover. She was still shocked this woman had been the only one he had been with but it can't have been a love match if he had left her so easily. Maybe he had given up on love and settled for sex, like someone else not too far away from him.

Edward was hoping this supermarket trip would be better than the last. Esme had promised to take him with her next time she needed the props but that had yet to happen, so he was no clearer about what humans bought and why they chose some things and ignored others. Clearly packaging was irrelevant.

His mouth was now warm and he needed to make up for his earlier move, and kiss the heck out of this beautiful girl before she started thinking he didn't want her, which would be a blasphemy. He wanted her badly, with all his heart and his body agreed. He hadn't taken her as Edward, that pleasure still awaited him. Esme had warned him to not rush Bella, seeing she had just ended her earlier relationship. Apparently it was unlikely she would merely swap partners, and he would have to be patient and wait for her to be ready to take him into her bed.

Alice had gone hunting with Jasper and not come back all night, and he knew she was avoiding him. All he got from her mind was a French translation of War and Peace. She clearly had no intention of giving him any clues about when Bella would be ready.

His lips crashed down on her own warm, coffee flavored lips and he inhaled her scent and locked it inside him. God, she smelled delicious. He smelt her arousal and hoped maybe the women were wrong and she would race him upstairs now.

"Edward, we need to wait. We should get to know one another first, build a relationship," she murmured, pulling away. Maybe she could read his thoughts? Or maybe just his body, he realized, as he looked down at his hard on trying to burst through his jeans zipper.

It was not as easy for a vampire to lose an erection, now he had to leave her and stroke himself off or it would not go away. It never went soft, like a human man's, but it did reduce in size and hardness, and make walking easier.

"I just need to go put on my makeup and we can go," Bella said and Edward waited for her to disappear upstairs before rushing faster than the human eye could follow, out in the forest.

He dropped his jeans and boxers and grasped his own iron hard length and started rocking, moving his hand at lightning speed.

"Bella, Bella, Bella,' he chanted to himself and the harsh inhuman growl that left his lips as he exploded bounced through the forest and caused all the birds within five miles to fly away and all the forest creatures to drop the food they had foraged and flee to their homes.

Bella raised her eyebrows as she looked out the window to see what that sound had been and a flock of birds suddenly rose from the treetops, chirping loudly, obviously petrified. There was something out there, in the woods.

Something terrifying.

Edward slumped and retrieved his boxers and jeans and rushed inside, opening a magazine and scanning the celebrity gossip.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians, a perfect example of why cable TV had ruined the world.

Making nobodies famous for nothing.

"Did you hear that?" Bella asked, walking downstairs toward him.

"What?" Edward replied, his brow furrowed.

"Something screamed, almost, out in the woods,. It wasn't human," she assured him as he looked almost afraid.

"Grizzly bear. Still grieving. You should keep out of the woods," he advised her.

"Oh I don't know. Sometimes being in the woods can be fun," Bella smirked.

"You can moon watch anywhere, you don't need to place yourself in danger," Edward replied.

"Moon watch?" Bella questioned in surprise.

"Oh, don't you do that? It's a common hobby around here, a lot of residents do it," Edward lied.

"I just assumed maybe you were a moon watcher."

"I was, but not any more," Bella smirked. So, moon watching was a legit hobby? She should have known, really. Anything passed as a hobby these days.

"Let's get this shopping done."

Edward made no indication of knowing this was the 'wrong' pea coat and he pulled it on and huffed on the collar. Bella was putting her own new blue coat on and she drifted closer and turned her face towards his jacket and he smiled as she caught a whiff and tried to hide her actions as she sought more of his smell. She was an addict, just like him, and he loved her for it.

Edward parked near the supermarket and opened the door for Bella. She had sat there waiting, wanting him to keep up this gallantry.

He got the shopping cart and pushed up and down each aisle, watching and taking note of everything Bella put inside it. Some things were easy to recognise, somethings he had never encountered before and his own brief human life had been so far back, his mother had merely bought bags of flour and oatmeal and sugar and cooked everything from scratch.

Rolls of cookie dough, shaped like short fat sausages, from the freezer caught his eye. He liked the bright pictures and he smiled as Bella glanced at him, with a slightly bashful look on her face as she tossed some in.

"It's just so much quicker and easier," she explained and he nodded his agreement.

She had tossed in one of every variety and then she doubled back and threw in a few doubles.

"Charlie likes his cookies," she said.

Edward watched her choose her own fruit and vegetables rather than just grab the prepackaged bags and he caught a shiny red apple she dropped, with his feet, and bounced it back up into his hands in what he hoped was a human enough movement.

"Thank you," she said, taking it and smelling the aroma of fresh crispness. He grabbed one himself but the smell seemed quite sour to his nose.

Cheese aisle was the worst.

Seeing packages of raw meat had not bothered him at all, although the more bloody packs had been slightly appealing. He had fed this morning, on Emmett's breakfast juice supply again, so he had no trouble resisting reacting, but it did smell nicer than the other foodstuffs. Cheese was simply rank. He had to keep his gag reflex under control and he swore he would never ever eat any of these foul smelling lumps of Hell no matter what excuse he had to pull out of his ass.

"Dammit, all these lovely cheeses and I'm lactose intolerant. Can't eat any dairy," an old woman said to Bella as she picked up yet another foul smelling lump.

"Same here, lactose intolerant myself," Edward informed her. He wanted to laugh as she stood up straighter and unconsciously pushed out her chest and smiled at him. They just couldn't help themselves around him. Then she flinched and stepped back and he realized he had smiled too widely and showed his teeth.

She hurried away and Bella looked after her and frowned.

"Strange old lady. At first she looked like she was going to pounce on you, then she looked like she was scared you were going to pounce on her in a whole different way."

Edward shrugged, not knowing the correct comment to make.

He was so glad this cart was full and Bella was leading the way to a checkout.

"What are we doing today?" he asked as she stacked pack after pack onto the conveyor belt.

"What would you like to do? It isn't as bitterly cold as yesterday so not beach weather," she chuckled.

"You could come and see my new house," he suggested. He had not spent the night lazing in bed like humans did. He had managed to enlist Emmett's help for an hour before Rose came looking for him and racing him off for other duties. Then Carlisle had managed to drag himself away from Esme for an hour and spent the time catching up on Edward's news while they rebuilt the little stone cottage in the back of the grounds of the Cullen estate. It was little more than a shell but by morning, it was as good as new, just needing painting and decorating inside. The structure was completely redone and the walls strong and new, but it looked as it had when first built. It was far enough from the main hose to be out of hearing range and Edward had no plans to ever expose Bella to a houseful of vampires who could hear her every moan and cry as he pounded her body to ecstasy.

Emmett would make a joke of things, Jasper would go into a frenzy of lust and Alice would have her work cut out for her, keeping up, if he picked up on Edward's moods and emotions as he made love with this girl. There would be more than inhuman screaming.

Esme would have finished the painting and decorating by now and Alice flicked a few previews of the rooms, now fully furnished, into his mind. They had kept with the whole cottagey theme inside, floral print curtains, blue sofa and chairs, flat screen tv, and he waited impatiently to see the main bedroom. The bed was perfect, almost a replica of the one in his bedroom in the main house, and the whole room was crisply white, from the chandelier to the curtains to the bedlinen.

Bella packed the foodstuffs away while Edward made coffee and after they had drunk it, he pulled her down on her father's sofa and played with her tongue with his own. God, he loved kissing her.

"Come upstairs," she moaned and he wondered if the whole 'wait until we know each other' was off now.

Bella threw back her bedcovers and turned bright red at the sight of his pea coat inside the bed.

Edward took it from her and breathed his scent into it so she would always have him here, in her bedroom, then he tossed it on the floor and took Bella into his arms.

They lay back on the bed and he kissed her until he felt her heart begin to panic from lack of oxygen each time. Only then did he release her and let her gasp in much needed air.

She unconsciously ground her body against his and he moaned, needing completion. But he couldn't let her feel his cold body. Her hand was drifting southwards and he caught it in his own hand, that had until recently been enclosed in warming gloves and he pulled back.

"We said we would wait,love," he reminded her.

"Edward," she moaned. He felt her frustration and took pity of her, placing his hand gently between her legs and rubbing until she relaxed and went along with him. She bucked and cried out and he kept his mouth over hers so he would not lose control and rip her clothes away and be there, lapping at her juices as she came on his hand, with a layer of denim between their flesh.

"God, we are adults, and not virgins, we should just..."

"No, not yet. Soon, but not yet," he pleaded. "We don't want lust to interfere and confuse things," he quickly ad libbed. She had said something like this once.

Bella sighed in defeat and lay in his arms and he traced circles on her back, through her clothing.

His head was swimming with her scent and his body was hard and needy and he knew it was another forest visit for him when she finally got up and left to shower.

He listened to her sounds as he stood there in the trees, bringing himself over the edge and his mind was imaging her naked as she had been, for Heathcliff.

He had no sooner finished than he smelt the unmistakable odour of the interloper and he turned and stared into the eyes of a large wolf but not a wolf.

"Jacob Black, I presume," Edward said, redressing in an instant.


	8. Chapter 8

berdb  
>2011-08-30 . chapter 7<p>

now Jacob will feel inferior to Edward's little "big" friend.

LOL, best review.

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 8

Edward waited as the 'wolf' transformed and a naked Quileute stood before him, unhurriedly untying a pair of cut off denim jeans and slipping them on.

"So, vampire, I see you are having no more luck with her than I have had. It hurts, right, knowing she is up there in her bedroom, playing with her little plastic toys when you could be inside her, giving her what she truly needs, doesn't it?. I could smell her from miles away, pleasuring herself. I see it has the same effect on you as it does on me."

Edward scanned his mind. The man really did think Bella was still a virgin. And his theories as to why were laughable.

"I don't think she is a lesbian, I think she is waiting for the right man to come along," Edward replied.

Jacob shrugged.

"Look at us, I mean, if a girl didn't find me hot and sexy then one would assume you would be her type. Yet that Ice Maiden spurns us both. She must like girls, there is no other explanation. The sooner she comes out and admits it, the better off she will be."

Edward felt himself relax. Now the wolf thought he knew Edward had been refused just as he had, he no longer felt animosity towards him.

He was Alpha Male, protecting the woman he hoped would be his mate but evidence that Edward was no threat had immediately caused his small brain to dismiss the vampire as irrelevant.

"If she is not into women, then who?" Jake pondered.

Edward read the names flicking through the man's brain.

"Well, to be honest, I have learnt far more about Mike Newton than I ever wanted to know," Edward lied. "He's so wonderful, he's patient, he's kind" God, what other attributes could he give such an insignificant male? "Bella rarely shuts up about him. Oh, he has a new car and apparently that's the icing on the cake."

"Fucking Newton. The man's not even attractive," Jake spat. His mind was recalling every piece of evidence that his woman liked that stupid little human.

She did defend him, when Jake pointed out his numerous faults. She did refuse to join in when others were trashing the guy's rep. Shit, how obvious, and he had completely missed it.

"I,um, should go. I need to check on the rest of the town," Jake stated and Edward turned away as he stripped again and retied his clothing. The wolf nodded at the vampire and disappeared towards town. Towards Newton's Outfitters to be precise.

Oh well, if the wolf eats that annoying little toad, so be it, Edward decided and went inside.

Bella came downstairs

"So, ready to see my new house?" he asked and she nodded.

Edward hit the iPod in the car dock and played the songs he knew she liked, and she relaxed and hummed along. The thought of her humming while she...

No, remember who you are, Edward. You cannot spend your entire life scaring the woodland creatures.

He parked the car outside the main house and opened Bella's door and took her hand.

"It's kind of small but quaint," he assured her, leading her down the yard to his cottage by the stream.

"I had no idea you were moving out again. Your Mom just got you back from Alaska."

"All baby birds leave the nest at some point," he replied, "even the cuckoos."

"I guess the lucky ones do. I can't imagine a time when Charlie can manage financially without me," Bella sighed.

"_Alice," _Edward said silently.

"_On to it. A lottery win? I could send a card to him from a nameless grateful motorist, thanking him for his invaluable help in the past and leave it all vague and open to interpretation and enclose the winning lotto entry."_

"_Good plan," _Edward agreed.

He unlocked the wooden front door, that was reinforced inside without any indications, you never knew when a wolf could turn nasty.

Bella walked into the smallish sitting room and immediately started looking at the framed photos along the shelf above the fireplace. The fire was burning brightly, warming the whole house.

"Who is this?" she asked in surprise.

"My grandfather," Edward quickly calculated, as she held the only photograph in existence of himself as a boy. A human boy.

"But you look so like him," she replied.

"The genes are strong," Edward shrugged.

She grabbed another photo, Alice and Jasper at a nightclub. Alice was wearing a beaded gown from the Prohibition era. Jasper looked amazing, in his black suit, white shirt and top hat.

"Fancy dress party" Edward explained.

"So, you guys go to a lot of them," she replied, looking at the group shot of the family. The men were in flared jeans with peace signs sewn on the legs and backsides, the girls were in very short paisley mini dresses and white go-go boots. Even Edward had to admit, that era had suited Rosalie so well. She looked amazing with her long blond hair flowing freely, no make-up, and she was smiling. Such a rare time, Rose had been happy.

The photo had been taken during their little holiday in London in the 60's.

"One of Alice's birthday parties, I believe," Edward stated.

"Wow, the clothes of each era look so authentic."

"Can you really see Alice settling for reproductions?" Edward scoffed.

"I guess not."

"So, this is the second bedroom, the kitchen, the dining room," he rushed, "and my study"

Bella tried to keep up and still catch a decent look at each perfect room.

"Main Bathroom, walk in closets," he said with a wave of his hand.

"And this is my bedroom."

He stood back and let Bella go inside and explore. The most vital piece of furniture was sunk into the floor under the bay window. A hot tub/spa bath.

The other vital component, the large bed, sat there, inviting them to try it out.

"Edward, this is amazing," she cried out.

He walked towards the coffee machine beside his side of the bed and held it up. "Coffee?"

"God yes, as if you could go for more than an hour without a fix," she smirked. It was true, he couldn't only it wasn't the coffee fix, it was the kissing that followed. "I see you can grab a cup the very moment you wake up. How very 'Edward' of you." She chuckled.

"I can't wake up without my java," he replied, shrugging and hoping he looked a tiny bit ashamed or embarrassed, whatever the correct response was.

Bella sat on the edge of the bed and sighed. "I think I like this bed even more than the one in your other house."

Good, because if she hadn't, they would have been swapping the two over the moment she left.

"So, how do you like my house?" he asked.

"It's as I expected. Perfect. Not the style or build one would expect you to go for, being a bachelor. It's such a pretty little chocolate box family home cottage. It looks like a house a woman would love."

"If you love it, that's all I ask," he replied, smiling.

Bella walked to the large sliding glass door and looked outside.

"This would be amazing at night. You like your glass walls, don't you?"

"I have nothing to hide," Edward smirked. So very untrue, he had more to hide than she could possibly imagine.

"Can we walk around the property? You have so much land here, and it's all surrounded by trees. It's really something. I can't imagine what it would be like to have all this," she said as they stepped outside, coffee cups in hand.

Edward subtly directed her to a path that was partially obscured, hidden away under overhanging trees. The sun was trying valiantly to seep through the overcast sky and he wasn't game to depend on the clouds for cover.

"So, do you have pets? You could have horses or even a little hobby farm here and still have so much space."

"We have deer. In the forest," he replied.

"God, I love Bambi. That was my favorite movie as a child. So sad but so happy at the same time. I just love animals."

"So do I,"Edward replied sincerely. Warm blooded, delicious animals were one of his favorite things in life, now. Especially when he caught them in his arms and sucked the life blood from them. He made a note to only hunt adult deer, so her words would not haunt him.

She loved Bambi. So did he, but in such a different way.

Bella paused at a large expanse of garden and sat down on the grass, and Edward sat facing her. She gently touched a small mauve bell shaped wildflower and his mind drifted to his meadow. If she thought this yard was pretty, she would adore his special place. He should take her there.

"I've got this other property. It's a bit of a hike into the woods but I will keep you safe, if you want to come see it," he suggested.

Bella drained her cup and agreed.

He took the empty cup fro her and drained his own as he entered the house again, and placed them on the table in his bedroom. He had to take advantage of the warmth of his lips so he placed his hands on her shoulders.

"I need to kiss you. I've been really patient but I can't wait any longer," he confessed and she offered her lips to him.

Yes, this was what made this half life worth living. And when he managed to take her into that bed, that would make all these years of loneliness worthwhile.

He hated being the only one without a mate but now he had found her and recognized her for what she was. Delicious, beautiful, willing, and quite amazing. She would make such a perfect vampire.

"Whose are these?" she asked, when they parted, and a shoebox had somehow appeared on the bedside stand.

"I think Alice thought maybe you would need a sports shoe to hike in, I hope she got your size right," he replied as she opened the box and tried the shoes on. She pointed a toe and smiled.

"These are great but I bet they cost a bomb," she guessed.

"Ah, Discount Warehouse," Edward replied, showing her the markdown on the side of the box. $325 to $25? Seriously? Alice was pushing the envelope.

"Wow, I have to go shop there. Dad needs new clothes and at these prices, I could afford a few nice things for him."

"We should go there, one day soon," Edward agreed. Let Alice work out how that would happen. A non existent shop in a non existent shopping mall. That would be a challenge for the pixie.

"_Please, I can_ _just buy a shopping mall and fill my own shop with whatever I buy and resell them to her at a discount price. Maybe Rose would like to be the shop assistant," she giggled in his head._

Edward hid a smile. Rose being subservient, that would be worth seeing.

"Come on, this way," Edward encouraged and led her at a human pace into the other direction through the forest. He didn't want to be unfair and dazzle her but it would take hours walking at her pace and he could just carry her.

"You look tired, want to ride on my back?" he offered and she frowned and laughed. "Like, piggyback?"

"Sure. I'm stronger than I look and you are the size of a child," he laughed. "A very shapely, beautiful grown up child," he added.

Bella laughed at him and he turned and swooped her onto his back and started jogging, at a very leisurely pace at first, keeping silent and in rhythm and soon her head nodded and he felt her sag against him.

"Bella, are you awake?" he asked and got no answer, which was an answer it itself. He increased his pace and tore through the trees, feeling the exhilarating wind brush past his face.

Once he reached the pretty meadow, he lowered her to the ground and lay beside her.

"Bella, we are here," he whispered and felt her skin gooseflesh all over and her nipples...

Nope, not thinking about those cherry red little buds.

"Edward, this is amazing," she cried, jumping to her feet and rushing about the area, cooing at the flowers, the ferns, the buttercups.

Edward removed the flask of scalding coffee from his pocket and downed half the contents faster than she could even notice he was moving.

"I own it. It's my little escape from the everyday when I need a break," he said.

"Stop showing me all your assets, you could turn a girl's head," she warned.

"You know you would want me even if I was penniless," Edward replied.

"I would?" she laughed, looking at the assets she liked the most. That dazzling smile, those green eyes, that copper hair. Yes, he was right. If she had found him in a homeless shelter she would have taken him home and adopted him. But this man with all this?

Amazing.

"I'm attractive, but not arrogant about it. I'm rich but money does not rule my life. I'm incredibly charming, and you love me," he ticked off on his fingers.

"Oh that's right, NOT arrogant. I keep forgetting that one," she replied, smiling at him.

"Come here and kiss me," Edward invited.

"Wow, your lips are so warm," she sighed.

Edward hovered over her as she pulled him down above her on the ground.

She gazed into his eyes and he flinched for a moment, not wanting to do a complete dazzling.

"Bella?"

She was very still and he touched her face nervously. Her eyes seemed to draw him in closer and he tried to force himself to blink. This was almost a reverse dazzling, she was unconsciously doing something to him. But she was as still as a statue and not aware of her actions or even her surroundings.

Edward felt his unshakeable body shake a little as images flooded inside his head. Everything went black and he felt tightly squeezed all over and his head felt like it may burst open. Then he saw the red glowing light, like the source of the light was hidden behind a red velvet blanket that surrounded him. Then suddenly he was in the light, and the room around him was huge, and he was being help up in the air, helpless.

"It's a girl," said a female voice and he was lowered, lain on an expanse of soft pink flesh.

He opened his eyes wider, and he was looking at a young woman, with light brown hair and pretty cornflower blue eyes. She looked tired and sweaty and he wondered if he was recalling his own human birth but this was not his mother and he was not a girl.

A face hovered over his and he looked into the smiling face of a younger Charlie Swan.

"Beautiful. Perfect. You did so well, Renee. She is a little gem."

Somebody lifted him, roughly and he was swathed in blankets and something cold was put into his eyes and he squirmed and cried.

Charlie was there, and he took him into his large arms and rocked him.

"Hey, Isabella Marie, welcome to the world."

Shit, he was seeing, living her birth.

He shut his eyes as he was propelled towards the large pink breast of his girlfriends mother.

A blur took the place of that vision.

He was small, looking up. He could feel his small fat toddler feet standing on damp lawn, and one of his chubby arms was extended up, holding a yellow paper daisy.

"Is that for Mommy?" asked Charlie, taking his other hand and leading him to where the woman was hanging out washing on the line in the sun.

"Thank you, Baby," she cooed and lifted him to kiss his cheek. He felt her warm lips against his soft skin, and felt his mouth smile.

Blur again.

Damp sand, the sound of the ocean waves. He was sitting in the soft sand, waving about a little plastic spade.

"That's mine, Bells, give it back," a little black haired child cried. Edward was unsure if it was a male or female. It had long black hair past it's shoulders and very white teeth and the pretty brown skin of a Native American.

"Hey, here's yours, Sweetie. Give Jakey back his spade," Renee asked quietly and he handed it over and took his own, frowning at the boy.

"S'mine," the boy said and crossed his arms across his chest. Edward laughed as he saw himself fill his own spade with sand and toss it into the black shiny hair.

"Bella, Goodness me, sometimes you can be a little minx," Renee admonished her.

Swirls, colors.

"School will be fun. You will make lots of friends," Renee assured him, and he felt her braid his long brown hair. "Mommy's packed your lunch and you need to wear your hat, it's a school rule but I think a rainhat would be more suitable in this Godforsaken wet hole."

Mommy sounded fed up.

Children surrounded him and he felt shy and scared. A lady came and took his hand. "This way, Bella. I like your shoes, they are so shiny and new. Is red your favorite color?"

He nodded, it apparently was.

More blurring.

"Mommy loves you very much, never doubt that. I'm sure she will come to her senses and come home to us, Sweetheart." He did doubt, though.

"Why did she leave us then?" he asked in a tiny bell like voice, full of fear and pain.

"Mommy just needs to sort some things out," Charlie replied gruffly, and he kissed the child's cheek and wiped the tears from his face.

Her face.

"I will always be here for you, Bella. Daddy promises he will never ever leave. Daddy has nothing to work out. He knows what the best things in his life are, and you, Baby Girl, are the very top of that list." He felt better, warm, fuzzy.

Colorful blurs.

A birthday cake, he was blowing out the candles. A smaller version of Jessica sat on her knees on the kitchen chair and asked him for the first slice of cake. With a pink sugar rose on the top.

Charlie took the knife from his hand as he made the first cut, and took over,slicing the cake. It was quite incredible, all white icing with pink frosted edges and little pink flowers dotted everywhere. He got the first slice and Jessica poked her tongue out as someone handed her the second.

"Mine slice is bigger, anyway," she said with a touch of spite in her tone.

Children were singing, dancing, playing games. A Quileute woman was organizing them into teams and she won the first race.

"Unfair, Bella already got birthday presents, she shouldn't be allowed to win the prizes as well," whined Jessica.

He was glad when that scene ended. He had wanted to slap the child in front of him, as she sneered and tossed her black curls back.

"Come on, Bells. We are fifteen, everyone else is doing it."

Oh fuck.

"Jacob Black, keep your hands to yourself or you will be walking funny for the rest of your life."

Oh thank God. He was an assertive female. He had so feared that he was about to find out what it felt like to be felt up. As a girl.

"Just let me see your breasts then. How could that hurt?" the boy nagged.

"Gee, I don't know, let's get Charlie's opinion," she snarked.

"You are a tease. Lauren let me.."

"You can't really imagine telling me what Lauren let you do would make me let you touch me? Are you simple?"

"No, but you are clearly lebanese."

He laughed out loud and the boy reddened and walked away.

Cloudy pink and purple swirls.

He frowned. He was sitting in the lunchroom at Forks High, staring at himself. He watched the supposedly younger Edward speak to Jasper, who had gone into a trance at the closeness of a young female student and Edward kicked his chair.

Jasper jumped, and scowled.

"Think of them as friends," Alice trilled.

God, his heart was beating faster and he was thinking about how unbelievably gorgeous he was.

It was so very strange, looking at himself through her eyes, feeling her emotions.

"God, Swan , aim for the moon why don't you? You could never get him to tap you," Jessica, now the owner of a set of silver braces across her teeth, sneered.

"But he's just so...perfect," he/she sighed and lay their head down on their folded arms on the tabletop.

Edward ignored him and he felt his heart contract painfully.

"He doesn't even know you exist," the girl beside him laughed nastily. "I'll have him, one day. I'll lure him into my bed and I'll tell you every single detail."

He saw Edward frown and glance at Jessica, slightly bothered at her words or maybe her thoughts were more graphic.

It was true, he barely noticed Bella at all.

The next scene was so much better and he wanted it to last.

Dark night, a tree trunk, a naked Bella moaning, making him shiver all the way up to his copper hair. His tongue was firmly encased inside her body and she was moaning loudly.

"Heathcliff."

Fuck. He had loved being Heathcliff.

"Kathy," the unseen black shadow replied, his voice thick with passion.

Then they were on the ground and more than his tongue was inside her and she was loving it.

"Edward."

He shook his head. No, Heathcliff.

He felt his brain awaken and he looked startled, into his so called sister's eyes.

"Alice, what the fuck?"

"I could ask you the same question. What the fuck are you doing to her? How come I could see her entire childhood? How did you do that? You said you couldn't read her mind."

"I wasn't. She did this. She showed me her whole life, somehow. She let me in, Alice, I didn't do that."

"Is she okay? Her heart rate is really slow."

Edward touched her neck and nodded.

"She's fine. She's more or less asleep. I will take her back to my house."

"I think you should take her home to Charlie and ask Carlisle what the fuck she did."

"Can't you tell?" he asked.

"Nope, never seen anything like that before."

Edward scooped the sleeping woman into his arms.

"She sure enjoyed being with Heathcliff. She must think you are pretty damned special to give that up," Alice said with a sigh.

Edward smiled.

He would be.

He would be worth every sacrifice he had to ask of her.

**OK, I got called out on the "lebanese" comment. Firstly Aussies are not very PC. But this is just what kids here say before they realize it does not mean lesbian, like they say 'bsgetti' before they realize it's 'spaghetti'. Think of it like this, a lot of people think Australians come from Austria. It's a confusion of words, nothing more. Sorry if it offended anyone. I write way more often on the Aussie only boards and forget that at fanfic anyone can read it.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Don't be mad about my stereotypical California views, they are Edward and Alice's opinions, not mine. All I know about the place is from watching "Californication".**

**Oh, vampire sex alert, it had to happen. Let me know if it's too like porn, I just figure vampire sex would be 'more' than human sex.**

**NOTE I decided it read like porn, if you want the original version it's on my user Kynzi Rose but it's a bit rough. Read at your own risk.**

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 9

Edward lay on his bed, puzzled. Vampires did not get headaches but this sure felt strange. Whatever she had done had left his head fuzzy and it was like an aura of pain hung around it.

He had let Alice take Bella home, because he had felt unsure how safe she would be with him feeling like this.

Hours had passed, he noted in surprise, in fact, he had somehow missed an entire night and it was mid morning the next day.

"_Alice_" he asked silently, wanting to know Bella had been delivered safely home to Charlie.

"_Oh go away,"_ his sister replied rudely.

"_Where are you? What are you doing?"_

"_I'm sitting in a little open bar beside a beach, looking at the pretty humans. Really, we should move here. There's a lot of sun but I tried this Factor 20 plus sunscreen cream and guess what, I'm not sparkling in the sun."_

"_Where are you exactly? Which state?"_

"_California. God, Edward, the humans here are so good looking and all...orangey, not white. And the girls have enormous breasts. It's quite funny, I'm watching a game of beach volleyball and their breasts are all bouncing in unison. Oh, oh, wait...yes, one girl's breasts just popped out of a teeny little bikini top, how did she even think that scrap of fabric would be strong enough? Oooh, I see, she wanted that to happen. She's being all...human. Squealing and palming her own breasts and pretending to be embarrassed and the men are all rushing to help her get her top back on. So polite, Californians. I like it here. Oh, move, person, I can't see those men that patrol the beach in their tiny Speedo things. Aww, that's better. Did you want something, brother? Wait, I'll give you a look."_

Edward frowned as a bevy of identical women in small scraps of nothing paraded in his head.

"_How can that be? They all look the same. Are they all siblings?"_

"_Nope, same plastic surgeon is my guess. Now, I'm relaxing and enjoying the view, what do you want?"_

"_Did Bella get home safely?"_

"_No, Edward, I came to California to escape your wrath because I dropped her from a tree top. Of course she got home safely."_

"_Alice, what are you doing in California anyway?"_

"_I'm waiting to buy the winning lotto ticket. The agency here is going to sell it but there are ...twenty four more entries before the winning ticket. Sadly they sell fast so I will only have to wait another three hours."_

"_Or you could buy twenty five entries,"_

"_But that would not be fun. I like looking at these pretty human men. See."_

Edward frowned at the near naked men, muscles shiny and glinting in the sun. They were running along the shore, or lifting weights in an area where a lot of women were gathered, watching, taking photographs. Some more men were swimming and running in and out of the surf, flexing their massive chest and arm muscles alarmingly.

"_Oh, here's Jasper, I'll just tell him where you are and what you are admiring,"_ he replied.

"_Edward, don't be mean. Okay, I'll buy the entries and head home. But I really like this place. Except the sand is hot and sticky. Ugh. I can hardly walk in my Manolo's."_

"I'm guessing you know where my wife is?" Jasper said, sitting on Edward's bed.

"She's shopping," he answered with a smirk.

"Really? How many more outfits could we wear? She spends so much money you would think some humans would start to wonder how come she is so rich."

"She's mainly browsing, actually," Edward amended.

"Alice? Browsing? I can't quite picture that," Jasper said in surprise.

_That's probably a good thing, considering what she is looking at._

"So, what's happening today, with you?" Jasper asked. He was bored without his mate. Alice should have taken him with her, he could have watched the breasts fall out of the top.

"I'm inviting Bella over tonight for dinner and hoping she will stay the night."

"How would she explain that to Charlie? Doesn't he ever notice her absence?"

"She is very considerate, she always rushes home but I want her to stay the entire night tonight. I need a plan."

"_Cover for me and I'll call Bella and invite her for a sleepover," _Alice trilled.

"_Done. Do some shopping before you get home, I told Jasper you were buying clothes."_

"_Thanks for that. I think I'll but him some Speedos, they look very...nice."_

Edward grinned.

"You could just ask her, she isn't a teenager. Human women spend nights with their boyfriends," Jasper suggested.

"Oh, right. It's fine, Alice is inviting Bella to sleep and do whatever Charlie thinks girls do on a sleepover."

Edward walked to the hot tub and started filling the bath up with scalding water.

"I have to feel warm to her. Maybe a few hours in this will take the chill off me and keep my body warm all night. What do you think?"

"Test it out. We can time how long it takes your body to cool then you could get up in the night if you have to and soak some more."

It seemed like a plan. Bella would be asleep and the nights were long when you couldn't slip into slumber yourself. Edward felt excited, like a child waiting for his birthday party to begin.

The hot tub felt different, he hadn't been warm all over for a very long time and the heat almost made him drowsy. It was pleasant. His brain seemed to rest a little and not process so many thoughts at once and for a while, it was blank. He let the strange video of Bella's life flicker through again, amazed at the detail and the way he was experiencing her feelings himself.

He loved her watching him at High School though it made him sad that he had not noticed her. They could have started so much earlier and they were caught there for the entire day, five days a week. He could have gotten to know her so well. But his job had been, like Alice, to keep the humans safe from Jasper, and to let their brother learn to cope with being inside a feedlot, as it was. A feedlot where feeding was definitely not allowed.

Edward had wondered what Carlisle was thinking, at the time but it had been the only way. Jasper was not a newborn, just not used to living in so called civilization. His life had always been in the wilds, the woods, the forest, where he had snacked on the odd hiker or fringe dweller. But then Alice had taught him there was another way and nowadays nobody was in danger except Bambi.

Bambi.

Poor little Bambi.

Even taking animal lives seemed wrong, it wasn't as if animals were sly and evil, like men could be. There were many men Edward would be happy to take out, but the idea of their tainted blood sullying his body now was as big a deterrent as the knowledge Carlisle would never tolerate a second fall from grace.

And one day he would have to tell Bella his entire life story and it really didn't need to be any scarier and grimmer than it was already.

"Come on, out," Jasper, ordered and Edward stepped from the tub and dried his body, pulling on a pair of boxers and climbing into bed.

Jasper turned the television on and sat on top of the covers and the men waited and checked Edward's body heat level each hour. It seemed, especially if he had her warm little body curled in his, he could probably last around four hours before needing to reheat himself.

He stayed in the water until he watched his sister drive up to the front door, with an excited Bella at her side, then he flew from the tub and dressed, pouring hot coffee into his mouth at the same time.

Alice walked the girl down to his cottage and he opened the door.

"Hi, brother, I need a favour. I invited Bella for a sleepover and forgot I had that thing to do tonight, so I was wondering if she could stay here with you instead," Alice teased.

"I'm sure that would be tolerable," Edward replied with a grin, taking Bella's hand and leading her in.

Jasper and Alice left together, hand in hand.

The moment the door closed behind them, Edward had her in his arms properly, and his mouth was sealed on hers and he tasted her delicious Bella taste.

"Would you like to help me make dinner?" he enquired.

"Nope, I would like to lie on your wonderful bed and kiss you for a while," she answered.

Edward could cope with that. He let her lead him to his bedroom, and smiled as she stole glances into each room again. She seemed to like his cottage and that made him so happy. It would be a wonderful place to live, with her, afterwards.

Her changing could even take place here, he could lay with her and hold her and keep his ice cold body beside her burning one and hope the cold would be some little comfort.

Bella kicked off her shoes and curled up on his bed and Edward smiled and lay beside her, unsure whether this was to stop at just kissing. He had to watch and calculate what she wanted, because the wrong move could ruin everything. Not knowing what she was thinking was far more frustrating than usual. With another girl, any other girl, he would have simply done what she showed him she desired in her brain. With Bella, he had to depend on touch and body language.

He was as clueless as any inexperienced human male. Well, he did have _some _experience. Some wonderful experience, the best kind.

Bella's body was warming up, even more than usual, with their lips locked and their tongues busy and she sighed now and then, with complete happiness. She was enjoying this. Edward felt her reach out with one hand and secure his hand in hers then she placed it inside her pretty white cotton blouse and he felt soft lace beneath his hand, the little bra the only thing between him and her breast.

He circled his thumb on her hard little nipple and she moaned and pushed her body closer to his, and his brain smiled.

Oh, she wanted him. She wanted to feel him inside her, he didn't need to read her mind to know that. But was this an invitation or was she simply imagining what she wanted and reacting to the thought, rather than starting something more? It was so confusing. He had never enjoyed deliberate voyeurism as such so had flicked out of any brain in this situation. Now he really wished he had stayed. Of course, he had seen snippets no matter how hard he had tried to avoid them, because humans had the habit of instantly changing what they thought about, or if their friend suddenly slid a hand into some place intimate, like where his was, the tv show they were watching would dim and the reality of their actions overtook their tiny brains that could really only cope with one or two things at a time.

Once he had been confused, as a man played with his woman and she was thinking of the grocery list she needed to write, that was strange. Also strange were humans being with one human while thinking of another.

Why didn't they simply go be with that other human? He understood when it came to people like Johnny Depp, the man could not be with every woman who fantasized he was her sex partner, but with ordinary humans, he felt confused. He himself could have been with girls, vampires, and thought of Bella but that would bring him no satisfaction. The girl in his head needed to match the girl in his arms.

He massaged the breast gently and she leaned in, trying to make him touch her in a firmer manner, so he slid his other hand behind her back and carefully unclipped the bra, not wanting to destroy it.

Bella moved back, breaking contact with his lips and he panicked for a moment, but she was simply tossing her blouse off and the bra followed.

He had naked Bella breasts to play with.

He hovered, supporting his weight on his strong toes, and had both hands free to massage the naked mounds of flesh and she was really enjoying his attention. Too much to even wonder how he managed to hover there. Her mouth was on his again and she was writhing, closing her legs tighter, rubbing them together a little.

"Bellaaa," he moaned, he could smell that distinct smell that signalled her core was warming and become wet.

She rubbed her body against his and he lowered one hand and replaced it's spot with his mouth instead, sucking on a nipple as the other was still being caressed with his left hand. His right hand touched her jeans, and she arched her body to his as he traced over the thick denim seam that ran between her legs.

Her hand fumbled at her zipper, so he helped her, removing the jeans entirely with a slow pull down her legs and next thing his fingers were exploring inside the little lace panties.

So soft, so warm, her body sang to him and she panted and kissed the top of his head. Her lips were so soft and he relished her affection most of all.

"Edward, God, Edward," she cried and he slipped a single finger inside her and withdrew it several times, feeling her body want to open up and take in more. A second finger with the first still failed to satisfy her and suddenly he felt her hands on his pants, pulling them down, grabbing at his rock hard length and guiding it inside her.

Well, that was the invitation he had hoped for, there was no way to misread what she wanted. Evidently she was over Heathcliff and wanted him to be her lover instead.

His clothes disappeared and he was glad she had her eyes closed and was too far into the moment to be noticing anything that was happening too fast for her eyes to see.

He slid them both beneath the blankets and slid himself inside her warm eager body.

"Yes, home," he cried and started the slow love dance she loved.

His lips found his mark on her throat and he sucked it between his teeth to remind himself not to bite, no matter what. No matter how amazing the sensations got, he could not bite.

Not bite.

Not bite.

The chant replayed in his head as he thrust his hips and entered and left again, returning quickly, not wanting to leave at all but it was how the dance went.

She hissed slightly each time he hit hard inside her, and he found the spot easily, and kept connecting with it each thrust.

Her head was rolling, her eyes were closed and she was completely lost in the moment.

She was his. She loved what he was doing to her and he fought the desire to think of nothing but what he was feeling because that way led to tragedy and accidents.

"God, I love you, my Bella," he cried and thought about how much he needed her and how he would curl up and die without her.

No biting.

His hands sought her soft backside so he could lift her and grind inside enough to satisfy himself without losing control. The entire room was full of the smell of her, and he decided breathing was extremely necessary after all, as he inhaled the aroma and felt himself harden more, more than rock.

"Edward, my God, you are so hard," she cried and he struggled to keep control. He rubbed against the outer bundle of nerves before pushing inside and hitting her sweet spot in there and felt her start to shake and heard her moans. Concentrate on her, bring her to the peak, don't even think about yourself, he cautioned but it was pointless. Her body was shaking, and pulsing and she was sweating with effort and the aroma was so much stronger as she came hard, around him and he forgot everything but the feeling as he pumped inside her, able to experience the feeling from inside his own shaft as the venom rushed out. He felt it enter her and coat him on the outside of his erection. He was totally loving it, as her body contracted around him and gripped him tighter, unable to stop because he was still inducing her to keep orgasming continuously. She was close to passing out, this was more than a human body could cope with, and he wanted to stop, on some level but the feeling was so unbelievably erotic, and he couldn't begin to stop needing to be inside her himself.

He struggled to remain aware at all. His body just wanted to keep thrusting, thrusting, harder, keep the pulsing going. He was so very glad to be alive right now, if that was what he was. He felt alive, more alive than ever before, and his hands let her fall to the bed as he made a Herculean effort to stop and not kill her with his body.

He grasped the bedhead and twisted, pounding her still, trying to find a distraction to break the spell.

The bedhead broke and pulverised in his hands and he found his mouth open, seeking her throat and he aimed to the right instead and heard himself snarl and snap his jaw shut tightly with something between his teeth and he bit, harder, harder, tearing, pulling back, but nothing, no blood, no nectar.

He threw himself backwards off the bed and landed heavily on the floor and looked up in wonder as the air filled with tiny white feathers.

"Oh Thank God," he cried, and flew to her side and took her hand. Her pulse was strong, her heart was pumping and there was not single spot of blood anywhere.

He hadn't hurt her at all. He had put her into a state of such bliss she was unconscious, but she was safe. Safe but looking much like a baby bird, as the feathers drifted down and settled all over her.

The beautiful Egyptian pillows were no more. Alice would be mad about that, she had actually gone to Egypt to buy the real thing.

Edward looked up as he heard his sister closing in.

"Edward, new bedhead?" she said, ignoring the sleeping human and ripping away what remained of the tortured metal and slid the new one into place.

She crushed the broken remnants and blew the dust from her hands, waving it outside the door onto the ground.

"I bought them in bulk. I'm pleased to see the house is still standing. It won't be, once you change her and can let yourself really go," she sighed.

She left and returned instantly and tossed him two new pillows.

"Imported. I think they are authentic but who knows? I can replace them after my next buying trip to Egypt but these will do for now."

She was gone in the blink of an eye and Edward lay beside Bella and carefully picked individual tiny white feathers from her hair before she woke up and screamed at the apparent carnage.

He didn't want to think about what could have just happened but he had to.

He couldn't do that again until he found some control. It had been so much easier in the woods, with tree trunks to scar with his hands and he had pushed his feet against the ground, leaving large gaping troughs, but here he had no such outlets.

All he had was a flimsy bedhead.

Maybe he could ask her if she liked that chunky wooden style bedhead instead? Clearly, the thin metal was no use to his excess. He bent to kiss her. She tasted so delicious it made the instant replay begin in his mind and he flew outside, into the forest and released again as seeing himself come that hard and long made his body do it again. Maybe this would be the answer? Maybe he should release like this from memories before he made love with her each time?

He panted and grasped a tree and heard it snap and fall as he screamed her name.

He sank to his knees and tried to calm himself.

Jasper appeared in that instance and Edward felt the calm wafting out in front of the man, as it enveloped over him, and his body rested.

"I could have killed her," he cried.

"But, you didn't."

They returned inside and Edward stood well back, a little afraid to be close to her.

Jasper stood beside the bed and saw the early signs of bruising begin on the girls pale flesh and he placed his cold hands gently over them, lessening the blood seepage beneath her skin.

"She's fine, though she will be marked, there's nothing we can do about that."

Alice reappeared and started coating the girl's skin with a salve of some kind.

"It will lessen the color, and make the blood fade faster," she said.

Suddenly they were both beside him, holding him as he swayed.

"Edward, you did it. You didn't kill her, you were amazing."

It didn't feel amazing. He waved them away.

As they flew towards the main house he heard his sister speak, forgetting he could hear her.

"Well, I told you it would go one way or the other. I saw her bruised and asleep or else..."

"Well we don't need the coffin after all, Thank the Gods," Jasper replied.

Edward slid back beside Bella and held her gently, kissing the top of her head. His body was cooling but that was good and he lay there and cuddled her to him, turning her over so every bruise got some time in contact with his cold skin and she slept the whole night, exhausted.

He slipped from her arms in the early morning and filled the tub and lay in it as his body reheated.

He could have killed her.

Sure, Alice and Jasper had been on alert, but clearly it could have gone either way. His sister knew it, Jasper knew it. They had been prepared to take her lifeless body away and bury it, if things had gone bad.

His body seized and he felt himself slip into a type of shock that vampires occasionally but very rarely suffered. Everything had become just too much and he knew it would pass, and for now it just appeared he was asleep.

He couldn't even move when he saw the girl in his bed awaken. She frowned as she stretched her arms above her head and he saw her breasts appear above the blankets. No bad bruising, just pale mauve marks.

She looked around and smiled at him laying in the tub, apparently sleeping.

"Mr OCD Cullen," she giggled, assuming he had felt the need to wash after their wild encounter.

"Well, Bella, you always wanted a night to remember, and that certainly fit the bill. This man is amazing. So hard to believe his first lover let him go because I never will," she smirked and walked into the bathroom.

She closed the door and soon he heard the sound of the shower, and then she reappeared, glistening wet, and drying her body, inspecting the marks he had inflicted on it, in the mirror.

"Whoa, we certainly got hot and heavy. I'm almost tempted to show these to Jessica and tell her what it's like to spend the night with a real man," she snickered.

She was completely untroubled, unaware of how close she had been to dying. This morning had held an even chance she would now be stone cold dead, buried in that coffin Alice had procured, deep inside the forest.

And he would be suicidal, needing death himself.

She gathered her clothing and dressed then sat down beside the tub and wiped the hair back off his brow and kissed his forehead gently.

"Wake up, my prince. Isn't it the girl who is supposed to fall into a blissful sleep?" she said, unaware she had been earlier.

Edward detected Jasper coming down the path, no doubt because Alice wanted him to wake Edward up.

She could hardly dance inside the cottage seeing he was naked. Human society said that was wrong.

Bella was heading down the hallway herself, unaware they were about to have a visitor and she jumped in surprise when he was there, right before her as she opened the door. She stumbled and fell forward and Jasper held out his stone cold arms and caught her in a reflex reaction and she flew from his arms the moment she could right herself.

"Jasper", she whispered in horror.

He was confused and he placed a hand on her arm.

"What's wrong? Edward's just asleep, he let's his body overheat in the tub and ..."

"You are so cold," she said.

"Oh, yeah, right. It's.. a medical condition. I can't recall the name, just means my body never heats up."

"So you are cold all over," she said aghast.

"It doesn't bother me, Bella and Alice thinks it's great. No need for air conditioning in our bedroom in Summer," he quipped.

Bella shook her head and stepped further back, horrified.

"I've got to go. Tell Edward... I'll call him. Oh God, no," she cried and was gone.

Jasper was confused but he helped Edward from the tub and covered him with calming vibes so he could recover.

"She thinks you are Heathcliff," Edward said, the moment he could speak.

"Heathcliff? But why would I be...oh, my God. She thinks I'm the one she..."

"Fucked in the forest," Edward finished for him.


	10. Chapter 10

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 10

Bella hurried to the car she had arrived in and , yes, Thank you God, the keys were in the ignition. Alice wouldn't mind if she borrowed it, she'd call her later and explain but for now, she just had to get out of here and get her head around what she had done.

Who she had done.

Jasper would surely never tell any of them what had happened, he was hardly meeting her in the woods after dark so he'd have interesting anecdotes about his nights to tell at the family dinner table so all she had to do was forget everything that had happened and pretend when she was around him that he had not been Heathcliff. If she hadn't run into his arms this morning, she would never have known herself and who knows, Bella, she assured herself, there could be others with his circulation issues. Hundreds maybe. It could be like obesity, a worldwide problem. How would she know, it wasn't like she was a doctor.

Maybe even all males of that age group went through a period of slow bloodflow and because their main blood supply was always directed to the one spot below their waists, the rest of their bodies were cold.

That sounded...feasible.

It hadn't been Jasper and Edward was his age and maybe Edward's body temperature was quicker to revert to normal, maybe it had been Edward being Heathcliff, yes, that was the most likely explanation.

Bella knew she was deluding herself but what the heck.

She could never hurt Alice like that. She would have run, screaming to the hills had she known the identity of the man waiting for her and come on, she had not invited him to ..swoop..and carry her from her trusty truck that first night.

See, actually, it was solely Jasper at fault. She had done nothing to encourage him. She had barely glanced his way in High School, he had always looked so intense and needy and distracted. Mike had always said he looked at the students like he was deciding on which one to eat, like they were the menu and he the food connoisseur.

And sure, he was pretty enough, but sitting beside the amazingly perfect Edward, his looks just didn't impact on her like Edward's did.

So, Bella was innocent, though hardly a victim, and Jasper had clearly suffered some type of lapse of judgement or maybe his medical condition also included brain fits or, or...

So many explanations.

She realized she was driving the small, silent car way too fast and was somehow at the Res, heading as always to her childhood friend in times of need.

Jake would understand it wasn't her fault. She had done nothing wrong. Nothing.

Bella laughed at the thought that anyone would ever really understand her. Ever since she had been a child, she had been so sure there was more to life here in Forks than met the eye. When she was little, she expected to see unicorns dancing in the moonlight in the edge of the forest outside her bedroom window.

Then as she grew and faced the harsh reality, that her life was actually as mundane and boring as everyone else's, she'd wondered if what it was could be just that inside her head, she had all the ideas and concepts necessary to write some amazing book about adult type fantasy and other worlds and creatures that looked like humans and lived amongst them and nobody but one small, insignificant ordinary girl could detect their presence.

Maybe she saw their auras and knew, or maybe she could see what they really were by...by, I don't know, the fact they shone in all colors of the rainbow in moonlight. Or maybe their sweat smelt like perfume or maybe their voices were more like the sweet sound of a bell ringing.

Whatever, the details would come later.

So everyone else around town went on with their monotonous lives, running on their hamster wheels, round and round, every day the same, never getting anywhere. Same job, same house, maybe a husband or wife, maybe kids, still running around and around uselessly on that damn wheel.

And at the end, they died still running.

Maybe they'd paid of the mortgage, maybe that was their one big achievement in life.

That would never be her.

One day she would manage to gather her chaotic thoughts and get this story onto paper and the world would fall in love with her new world where mortgages didn't exist and beautiful perfect creatures who were not quite human reigned.

Maybe they were angels? That could be an idea worth exploring. Angels who returned to Earth to guide the others through their hamster wheel lives.

Wait, that had been done already.

Damn.

She parked the car at the edge of the walking track a little distant from the houses at La Push and decided to hike the rest of the way so Jake didn't ask why she had arrived in this car. He would go all hurt and anxious because she was spending time with Edward and not devoting every spare minute to him, but in truth, she and Jake were drifting apart more and more lately.

He just seemed so...angry all the time. Like something had fundamentally changed at grass roots level and now he was no longer that sweet boy, that good kid she had always known and loved.

Suddenly he thought he had the right to make decisions for her and tell her what to do and where to go and..

Maybe if she had listened to Jacob and stayed out of the forest at night, the moon watching would have never occurred.

Maybe he had been right all along.

Her problem was, she was always so stubborn. She didn't know where it came from, Charlie was quite reasonable and didn't fly into rages, Renee simply walked away when life didn't conform to what she wanted it to be, and started again.

Bella stayed, long after she could have fled to somewhere new, and all because this childish idea had always existed in her head that Forks was somehow special and one day, she would be that girl who discovered what was going on here.

The sound of large animals crashing through the undergrowth quite close by caused her to pause and consider this was maybe not the safest place to be walking alone.

Charlie had warned her, Jacob was forever telling her to stay out of the forest yet once again, here she was.

Defiant to the last. Maybe she should climb a tree and hide amongst the branches until these stags or whatever they were passed by and moved far away from her?

She jumped as they were suddenly closer, and the tree climbing seemed like a very good idea. Bella had climbed trees all her life, it was no challenge and she scaled the trunk in seconds and surveyed the land below for miles.

The animals were so close they would pass below her any minute. They probably would have bowled her off her feet had she stayed on the ground.

They weren't deer though, more like big gray dogs. Wolves? There were wolves this size in Forks? Yet not a single hunter had shot one or even reported their presence to Charlie?

He could not know, because if he did she would be locked in her bedroom with an alarm system installed to ensure she never ventured out and anyway, Jake would be keeping guard at her only exit, the window.

Those two treated her like she was two years old.

She bit her lip as she realised the situation. She was dissing her father and best friend because they always did everything possible to keep her safe from situations just like this one she was in now.

She was the one who needed a full time carer.

Someone to ensure she never wandered off and...

That was not her fault!

Jasper had always, always only ever had eyes for Alice. And still he seemed obsessed with her, like they had some bond mere mortals didn't get. Yet he had ...done...that to her?

It made no sense.

Bella flinched as one large gray wolf suddenly put his mouth around the back of the lighter colored wolf's neck and she watched in complete fascination as THE THING, the very thing she had always been destined to witness, happened.

The wolves disappeared in a flurry of dust and leaves and their frantic fighting suddenly ended and they stilled, but they were no longer wolves, they were..

Naked Quileute boys.

No, make that men.

Definitely men.

Jacob Black and Sam Uley stood there, face to face, naked as the day they were born, laughing uproariously to, or at, one another.

"You are a joke, Jacob," Sam said, flexing his extraordinary chest muscles, slapping the slightly smaller Jacob on his back. "I could have taken you down thirty miles ago. You think you are so fast but you will never be as fast as me, your alpha."

"Don't forget, oh mighty alpha, you would be my minion had I decided I wanted to be pack leader," Jake replied, slapping at the other man.

"But an alpha who is slower and weaker than his pack members would never last. He'd be challenged and beaten to a bloody pulp and left in the dust to rot," laughed Sam.

"You could not win a fight against me, as human or shapeshifter," Jake roared and suddenly it was a bundle of gray fur again as the wolves were back and the men gone.

Bella knew she should be slipping into a state of shock by now but this was IT. This was what had kept her here all these years.

To think, it had always been Jake yet she had dismissed him so casually, always convinced the magic would come from another source. Someone tall and beautiful and madly in love with her.

But wasn't she describing Jake?

He was kind of beautful. And tall, God was he tall. He was about nine foot tall now. Well, six foot seven wasn't it, Charlie had said when he did his last driving licence stats?

And built like...like a man who could vanish at the blink of an eye and turn into a creature, a beautiful creature like the one standing still now, below her, his enormous paw on the chest of the defeated dog.

And just like that, they were back.

A laughing, victorious Jacob standing on the chest of an embarrassed Sam.

"Who's the bloody pulp again? Didn't you say I played that role because it sure seems to me, you are the pulp and I am the victor," Jake crowed and removed his foot.

Bella realized they both had something, fabric of some sort, tied to their ankles, both as wolves and as naked delicious men and she watched as they untied their burdens and pulled on pairs of roughly cut off jean shorts.

Damn, that was a shame because the view had been pretty damned sweet.

Jake flicked his long black hair back and ran his fingers through it, tearing out leaves and twigs and shaking dirt and sand onto the forest floor.

"Cut it off, you look ridiculous as the only long coated wolf anyway," Sam said.

Jake shook his head. "You know why I can't. It's like the thing she likes best about me. If I cut it off I will never have a chance with her."

Sam stood and placed a hand on Jacob's shoulder. "Seriously Jake, I can smell her scent out around that cottage, she's turning into a fan girl of the vamps."

"Never, I'd kill her myself rather than let those disgusting creatures turn her into one of them."

Bella stilled.

Creatures? Vamps? Weren't vamps girls who used to wear too much make up and act all seductive and bang anyone back in the 40's or something?

What the heck were they talking about?

Alice was hardly a vamp, and ...well, Rose was not your average little married lady and housewife, but Esme was as much a fifties stay at home Mom as there could be.

Vamps?

Clearly the word had a new meaning since she wrote the period novel for Vicky.

"She will never be a cold one, not unless it's over my dead body," Jake declared.

"All of our dead bodies. The pack would fight to the death to keep her human," Sam stated back.

Cold ones?

Jasper?

Mental overload, she needed to go home and clean the house and bring herself back into normalcy because this was all too weird even for her.

She needed to think about what this all meant.

Did Billy know Jake could..transform..into a wolf? Could he turn into other creatures?

Did Charlie know?

Surely not, he always encouraged her to be fair to Jacob and consider him as a possible husband one day. He would hardly be hoping for puppies instead of grandbabies, surely.

The two men walked off towards the small pretty cottage where Emily was waiting at the door, a tray of muffins in hand.  
>A whole bunch of similarily dressed Quileute boys appeared from all sides and grabbed at the food.<p>

One boy, Seth Clearwater, turned and sniffed the air.

"Oh, Jacob's been off playing house with Bella," he laughed and the others joined in.

Jake stopped and Sam frowned and took a muffin. "He hasn't been near her today."

"But I can smell her on him," Seth replied, and Bella watched as the others gathered around Jake.

"Nope, it's not on him, she's been here, though. Close by."

"Come inside and behave, I have a pan of eggs the size of a bathtub almost ready to serve," Emily said and the men walked out of sight, into the house.

Bella stayed still and looked directly at Seth as he stood at the door, his eyes scanning the very tree she sat in. He shrugged as an arm appeared and pulled him inside as well.

Bella slid down the bark and walked back to the car she had borrowed.

She wished she had someone to talk to, who would understand and explain what she had seen but there was nobody. Almost everyone she knew here was inside that cottage and the others, the Cullen's, would probably have her locked up if she started babbling about werewolves and naked men and fights in the dust.

God, Carlisle was a doctor, her doctor. He'd have her committed in the blink of an eye.

Maybe she just needed large doses of alcohol because at this moment, that thought was very appealing.

She headed for home and scrubbed the house from top to bottom and wondered if maybe this was just a dream and if it was, she would be really mad when she awoke and had to actually clean the house again, or the other possibility was, someone had drugged her drink and the only drink she had consumed was the glass of Coke Edward had placed for her at the side of his bed.

Whatever the answer was, it was up to Bella herself to solve this mystery.

And her friend Southern Comfort was just the ally she needed to sort this out tonight.

She cooked her father's dinner, ate a little herself then showered and headed for the local tavern.

She could do this.

"A SoCo with ice. And leave the bottle," she asked.

She knew the moment he arrived, her skin prickled and she didn't need to turn her head to see him.

His lips were beside her ear and his hands around her waist.

"Where did you run off to?" Edward asked, taking the glass from her hand and sipping the drink, then placing the glass on the bar.

"I went hiking, in the forest. Then domestic duties," she shrugged, leaning closer to his hard body.

He crunched the ice cube in his mouth and leaned into her again, running his cold tongue along the artery in her neck.

"I had so much more I wanted to do with you."


	11. Chapter 11

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 11

Bella's head throbbed and memories of last night returned, slowly, painfully. She blushed bright red as she remembered the karaoke, the drinks, the exit from the bar over Edward's shoulder in a fireman's hold. The drive back here to his cottage was hazy at best but sadly the hours of throwing up into his pristine white toilet bowl were clear.

God, could she be more embarrassed?

She opened one eye and cringed as the morning light stabbed into her eyeball like a spear. Her stomach clenched and she opened her mouth and breathed shallowly. God, the pain. It was everywhere. Her head threatened to explode and she quickly shut her eye and allowed sleep to claim her once again. All she knew was, she was alone, in Edward's bed in his cottage and she wanted to die.

Edward smiled and reclined back against the end of the couch and listened as her breathing changed back to slow and steady. He had attempted to stop her drinking but she had been loud and aggressive and determined. What was he going to do with her? Had he forced her home sober, she would have demanded he make love again and maybe they would have not been as lucky. Better she became inebriated. He had cut her off before she drank so much it could harm her.

She had laughed and cried, sobbed onto his shirt front, told him about wolves and naked men. The wolf part he knew, of course, and he worried she wasn't safe near the shapeshifters but he could hardly ban her from visiting the Res. No doubt her reaction to any order like that would be to pack up and go live with the Quileutes. She was so stubborn.

She had seemed a little impressed at the sight of Jacob Black naked, that bothered Edward as well.

Jacob had history with her, something he lacked. He stood and held the top of the doorframe as he gazed outside into the forest. This situation was a complete mess and he had to fix it.

He turned as he detected his sister arrive in the little courtyard outside his bedroom.

"Good morning, did you enjoy holding her hair for her while she threw up? Humans are such strange creatures. Apparently that's fun for them, they all seem to do it, and repeatedly. I'll never understand them myself. It seems kind of gross and disgusting to me."

"Is she going to be okay?" Edward asked.

"Sure, she's sleeping it off. Just put some bottles of water beside the bed and encourage her to rehydrate and she will recover faster. Carlisle said to give her these two pills next time she wakes."

She handed them to Edward and sat on the side of the bed.

"_Bella it's your birthday, Happy Birthday Bella,"_ she sang sweetly to the sleeping girl.

"Today?" Edward frowned. "I wanted to do something special for her on her birthday. Will she recover in time?"

"Sure, once she swallows those pills the pain in her head will be masked and her stomach will calm. Maybe you should wake her. The sooner she ingests them the better."

Edward knelt beside the bed and shook his girl gently.

"Bella, I need you to take this tablets, they will help you feel okay again," he cajoled. Bella groaned and tried to roll away and Alice assisted her brother and held the girl upright while he pushed the pills into her throat and stroked it until she swallowed. He tipped the water down and she gasped and swallowed thirstily and Alice nodded, and let her lie down and sleep again.

"She'll be fine. Come and hunt, Esme will sit with her, but I can already tell you she will be fine."

"She was with the wolves yesterday," Edward growled. "Why didn't you warn me?"

Alice frowned. "The shapeshifters? I didn't see that happen. I saw her heading for the forest then the vision ended. She still smells a little...doggy."

Esme stepped into the room and sat down.

"Come on, brother, you need to feed, she is getting to you. I can see the pictures in your head, you know," she reminded him.

Edward led the way and had a stag down and half drunk before Alice even selected her kill and he was done long before she was, and he threw her a wave and rushed back home.

Bella was awake, sitting up in his bed, drinking the herbal tea his mother had made her.

She reddened at the sight of him and he shook his head and smiled.

"God, I'm so embarrassed," she said. "I was upset, confused. I saw some stuff yesterday , I mean, I think I did. Maybe I'm just going insane. That seems a more reasonable explanation."

"Bella, there are many things in this world not everyone gets to see or experience. You are special, you are chosen to know the secrets and maybe even become part of them yourself," Esme replied happily.

"God no, I never want to be able to change into a dog," Bella protested.

Edward laughed and sat at her side.

"That could never happen. You have to be born with those genes. You are not a Quileute so it will never happen."

"But if Jake and I ever had a child...?" she asked.

Alice smiled and took her hand. "Then you could paper train it and take it walkies on a leash. I don't think he could father a cute little handbag dog," she said with a sad sigh.

"You guys know about the, the werewolves?" Bella said in surprise.

"Look where we live, practically next door to their playground," Alice said, waving a hand at the forest. "By the way, Bella, Happy Birthday."

Bella sat up straighter. "Really? Today?"

She sat back and smiled widely.

"You have special plans?" Alice asked.

"Today I get to meet someone who has been something of a mystery to me. I will finally know for sure and I can really put it behind me and move on."

It couldn't be Jasper. She was sure of that now, if only because Alice 'knew' things nobody else knew and if it had been Jasper, then the girl would not be calmly sitting here holding her hand.

Alice smiled.

"Today a dream comes true for you and a fear is erased. That's your birthday gifts."

Bella patted her hand.

"Good, that's the best gift of all. I should shower. Edward, I'm really sorry about..."

"Forget it, we have tonight," he replied.

"I have to go meet someone but I will come back," Bella assured him. Whoever Heathcliff was, all she needed was one look at his face, and maybe to kiss his cheek and say Thank you and Goodbye. Then she would return, to Edward.

Bella showered and dressed in the outfit Alice had left on Edward's bed and she made her way outside, where the man himself waited by the little water feature surrounded by golden sand in the courtyard. He was laying in the sun, smiling as he examined his limbs, a large pump pack of sunscreen beside him.

"How do I look?" he asked her, a little apprehension in his voice.

"Pale, ghostlike, you should consider getting a tiny tan, just a touch of color, maybe," she suggested. God knew she was pale but she looked positively suntanned beside him.

"I like being white. Plain white. No sparkles," he smirked.

Bella frowned at the reminder of the sparkles. It must have been some form of bodygel, and clearly Edward used it as well. She had noticed the iridescence on her skin again after their one night of love making.

Combined with Alice's promise that she was letting go of a fear and gaining a wish made her convinced she already knew Heathcliff's identity.

He smelt like Edward, he wore the same coat as Edward. He used the same bodygel.

Edward rolled over and exposed his bare back to the weak sunshine and Bella reached out a hand and stroked his skin. It was slick and shiny from the sunscreen, but despite the warm rays bouncing off him, his body was cold. Beneath the layer of skin it felt hard. So hard.

"I know your secret," she said.

Edward turned his face to her and raised an eyebrow.

"Edward, are you Heathcliff?" she asked.

He sat up. For a single moment he had hoped she knew so much more.

He sat facing her and gazed into her eyes, taking her hands in his, intertwining their fingers.

"Are you angry? I had to touch you, I had to be with you. Your scent drove me insane. I couldn't resist."

"How did you make yourself warm the other night?"

He shrugged. "I sat in the spa for hours. I wanted to be warm for you."

"You do realize I thought Jasper..."

"I'm so sorry. I should have told you."

"So, you are my first, my only?"

Edward nodded. "Are you sorry? Do you wish he was someone else, someone separate to me?"

"No, I'm happy. I just don't understand a lot of things, now. Heathcliff was more...raw, I guess, than you. Though to be honest, I can't remember everything that happened in that bed. It's kind of hazy."

"You passed out," Edward admitted.

Bella laughed. "Seriously? You were that good, that I passed out?"

"You were in a state of pure bliss. Overcome," he replied, looking away. "A state of real danger. You could have died."

"From love making?"

"I'm a lot stronger than you are. I have to be very careful around you. I can never relax and use more than a tiny fraction of my own strength. I could hurt you, badly."

"The bruises were nothing. You can hardly see them. Not as bad as the bark burn."

"Out there, in the night, in the forest, I had more ways to diffuse my excess...energy. In the bed, I almost hurt you, Bella. We can't do that again."

"But you could manage when you were Heathcliff? Could we meet up again tonight? As Heathcliff and Kathy? It's my birthday, Edward, I really want to be with you."

Edward thought about that. It was true, as Heathcliff there had been less danger, and he had been in control, able to pull out of her body even. The tree and ground may have suffered but the girl had been relatively safe. The bark scuffing...that was something that would have happened had a human been pressing up against her in the tree like that.

He wanted to be with her, God knew. Maybe until the day came where he changed her to be like him, they should keep their encounters to the forest, where they had begun.

She had enjoyed them, he had lived for them. Now she knew who he was, why couldn't they do that again? It was safer, all he cared about was keeping her safe.

"Okay, but let me arrive there first. You arrive at 8pm, I will be waiting."

"Will you explain how you moved so fast? How you were somewhere else as Edward? I can't work out how it all happened."

"I promise, I will explain. You need to know, for your own safety. Yet telling you will pose a new threat. We are sworn to secrecy. If you were smart, you would walk away now, while you can. You could meet someone else, someone like you. Someone who could give you babies and white picket fences and a normal life. I can't offer you that, Bella."

"You can't give me babies?" she questioned.

"No, never. Not at all. And we move around, we never stay too long in any one town. This is the longest we have stayed anywhere and our time here must soon end. People are noticing things."

Bella nodded and bit her lip. They were different. Strangely different but she couldn't imagine the explanation. Cold, fast, dangerous.

Alice stepped into the yard and smiled at Bella.

"Come up to the house. I'll help you. Do your hair and make up. Esme is making your dinner and Edward should probably eat as well."

He nodded. He should take every precaution.

"I'll see you tonight, then, my Bella. Eight pm."

"I will be there. Well, Kathy will be," she winked and followed her friend to the big house.

Alice primped and painted her and she lay back and closed her eyes and even dozed a little. She awoke to perfectly manicured nails, and silky soft hair arranged simply, just the front sections pulled back into a hair tie, the rest falling freely.

Her lips were shiny and soft pink, her eyes looked smoky and interesting, and her eyelashes were longer and thicker.

"No blush, I think that would be overkill," Alice murmured.

Bella was surprised to find herself redressed, in a satin frock she had never seen before, but she loved it instantly. She looked into the mirror and smiled at herself. Tonight she almost looked like a contender for his love.

Her cell buzzed and she opened it.

"Dad? Really? A surprise party? You know I hate surprises." She sighed and shrugged at Alice. "Actually the Cullen's are expecting me to dinner at eight but I guess I can come home now and be back in time," she said, glancing at her watch. It wasn't yet six.

She shut the phone and looked at a grinning Alice.

"You knew this would happen? This is why I am dressed already, at six pm."

Alice nodded and finished straightening the final tress of hair.

"There, perfect."

"How bad will the surprise party be? Is it just Dad and Jacob and Billy as usual?"

Alice stared and shuddered.

"I don't know. I can usually get glimpses of what is about to happen but your whole house is enveloped in a fog. How strange."

"Alice, you know I felt really bad when I thought...I mean, I knew Jasper would never..."

"Bella, relax. You know now, and Edward should have told you already and saved _you _the pain and angst. I was never bothered. I know my Jasper and anyway, once we mate for life with our true partner..."

Bella nodded. "That's how it should be. No divorces, no splitting up. Just your soulmate and you, forever."

"I'm glad you agree, that makes things easier," Alice replied. "Now scoot, and be sure to arrive on time. Heathcliff will be waiting. Anxiously."

"Tell him I will try my best not to be late, but Charlie and Billy do tend to go the whole hog, I might not manage to leave on time. He will wait for me?"

"He's waited so long for you already, a few hours won't make any difference," Alice promised.

"Take my car."

They had hours to kill. Jasper had been wanting to run up to Canada and taste a grizzly and Edward was always up for mountain lion. She smiled and went to find the men. Maybe Emmett would want to come as well. Carlisle and Esme and Rose wanted in as well, so they set off as a family, on just another family outing.

It was kind of like visiting the zoo. Kind of.

Bella arrived at her house and made sure she announced her arrival noisily so they could do their jumping out from behind furniture routine. How she could have forgotten this happened every year was beyond her understanding.

She opened the door and turned on the light.

"Oh, here I am, home all alone, and on my birthday. I guess everyone forgot," she said and feigned her usual surprise as streamers and men appeared from three directions.

"Happy birthday, as if we would forget," they chimed and she allowed the kisses on her cheeks and Jacob stopped and warily stood back.

"Bells, you _stink _of them."

"Jacob," Charlie growled. "Don't be so rude. My daughter does not stink, not of anything. Apologise."

Jake glared at Bella and spoke flatly. "I apologise for detecting the stench of the undead, cold , heartless killers you choose to hang with these days."

Billy gasped and Charlie scratched his head.

"Jake, are you..." Charlie mimicked smoking and raised his eyebrow.

"No, I'm not high. I wish I was."

"Then apologise properly."

"Sorry, Bells," his voice said but his eyes said something entirely different and he walked away, without a backward glance, sitting on the stoop of the backdoor off the kitchen.

Bella opened her presents and oohed and ashed and assured everyone they were just what she wanted, casting a glance now and then at the clock.

The singing and cake cutting happened, and then Jake was in such a bad mood Billy suggested having an early night, and Charlie agreed. Jake was being so cold and rude, and on Bella's birthday. This was not acceptable.

Charlie waved them off and Bella hurriedly tidied up the room and put the cake into the fridge.

"I have to go, I can be early and help Esme with the cooking," she explained. "Thanks Dad, that was quite a surprise. Sorry for forgetting, I was out last night and got a little drunk and slept it off at Alice's. The day has been a waste. Until the party. The party made up for everything. Thanks."

She hurried to the car and drove to the usual spot. Now she could be first and surprise Edward.

The way into the forest was clear and easy to follow with the night not yet having reached twilight. She followed the path and found the tent and stopped in surprise at the two men in front of her. One was tall and had a fair pony tail and a leather jacket on, with no shirt underneath. The other was a dreadlocked African-American of equal height. They were both behaving oddly, sniffing at the tent.

"Can I help you?" Bella asked.

Both men stood and turned, catching one another's eye briefly and grinning.

"Well, hello. I see you are the owner of this strange little abode. It smells like you," the blond said, stepping forward, holding out a hand.

Bella frowned.

"We are friends of the Cullen's. I imagine you are meeting..." he paused and sniffed at the tree.

"Edward Cullen, if my nose doesn't deceive me."

"Oh, you are friends of Edward's," Bella said, relaxing. "He will be here shortly. We arranged to meet up tonight."

She shook the proffered hand and blinked in surprise. The hand was cold, as cold as Heathcliff's.

The darker man approached her. "You are really quite...delicious," he smiled.

"Laurent," the blond cautioned. "Manners. She is attractive, beautiful even. So, I'm James."

"Nice to meet you. How do you know Edward?" she asked. Somehow these two made her feel a little uneasy, suddenly.

"We play on the same team," James replied. "Baseball, you know."

"Oh, I wasn't aware Edward played baseball."

"He plays a much blander, more gentle variety of the game we play," James said.

Laurent laughed. "Indeed. The Cullen's are barely even considered players any more. Too...

reserved and cultivated."

"Now we two play the game as it is meant to be played," James said, smiling.

Bella backed away several steps and felt the hardness of a tree at her back. She turned and climbed it, not stopping until she reached the smaller, thinner, more frail branches at the top.

The men merely stood below, smiling, laughing as if watching a small child attempt some clumsy move.

"Do you feel safer up there?" the dark man asked.

Bella looked around frantically. She felt more vulnerable than ever, in truth.

"Edward," she called, hopelessly. He would take so long to arrive, even if by some miracle he heard her call.

The men clapped hands and laughed.

"Yes, do call Edward. We haven't played with him in ages, decades in fact. Come on, Edward, come share your snack," James called loudly.

Bella trembled and held on tightly to the trunk of the tree.

Suddenly the blond was there, in the air, holding the same trunk. He had jumped, impossible as that was. He had jumped into the tree top.

He reached for Bella and pulled her towards himself, and she felt as if a giant had grabbed her. She couldn't fight him. He dangled her out over the vast open space that was between them and the ground below.

Bella screamed and to her further confusion, Edward appeared, from nowhere it seemed. Not in his car, just there.

"Let her go," Edward snarled.

Laurent jumped onto him as James opened his hand and Bella fell to the ground. She heard her bones snap and break but stranegly the pain was restricted to the top half of her body. Below the waist, nothing. No pain, no sensation at all, in fact.

Carlisle rushed to her side, having arrived minutes after Edward. And like his son, from nowhere.

Shrieks of rage filled the air and blurs of shapes and colors flashed and then it was calm again and Jasper and Emmett were collecting pieces of...men? It looked like arms and legs and it couldn't be, because you couldn't just rip people apart. And there was no blood. Not a drop.

Rose was making the ...stuff...into a pile and she threw a match in and the entire mass of limbs, be they human or tree, Bella was too confused to know, suddenly whooshed up in purple flame.

Edward was there, at her side, his face distressed and his eyes panicked.

"Her back's broken, in a dozen places. Her neck too. Even if she lives, she will never walk again," Carlisle hissed.

Edward grasped his hair and tugged at it.

"Carlisle! No, you have to save her. Do it."

"Edward, you should do it. I'm right here. Ask her first."

Bella tried to move but her arms were numb now as well and her neck refused to allow her head to turn and face Edward as he knelt in the dirt beside her.

"Bella, do you want to be saved? You are too badly injured to be made whole again. But you could...live...in a manner. You could be like us. I promise to love you every moment of forever if you choose that."

Bella tried to speak but her jaw appeared to be broken.

She gazed into Edward's eyes and hoped he understood what she was saying.

_Save me, Edward._


	12. Chapter 12

**Sorry, been distracted by The Sperm Donor, I didn't expect it to be so popular or for The Death to stir readers into wanting more. I will update this weekly in future.**

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 12

Carlisle sat beside his son and shook his head. While Bella had screamed a lot of loud, horrifying screams as Edward bit her on her throat, arms, and torso in the forest, as they had been too afraid to move her with her injuries, once the venom had hit her heart, she had neither moved nor made a single sound.

He was perplexed and naturally worried this would not end well. Her heart was still beating but her body was not hot to touch as the other humans had been during their changings. They had all writhed in agony, screamed with pain, begged him to end their torment by allowing them the gift of real death. Their bodies had burned like the Hellfires and each time after the first, he had been terrified but on the other hand, confident it was just what had to occur so he had sat beside his latest soon to be newborn and waited it out. It had never been even remotely like this. An entire week had passed.

Edward lay naked beside the naked semi-human girl and regularly turned her body in quarter turns, stubbornly sure his coldness was what was keeping her temperature down.

He refused to consider anything had gone wrong and sang in his melodic voice, for hours on end, when he wasn't talking to her instead.

He had related his entire life story to her, then he told Bella all he knew of his siblings and quasi parents lives as well. She didn't react to anything he said.

Carlisle feared the vampire was talking to a corpse but her vital signs still registered. So, she wasn't dead but she wasn't transforming as the others had, either.

The burden of guilt sat firmly on his shoulders, as the only experienced one, he should have done as Edward asked and changed her himself.

He debated whether biting her now would change things.

"Edward, I don't want to worry you, but you were there when I changed Esme, and Rosalie, and even Emmett. You know this is not going as it should. I think we need to consider that maybe for some reason, your venom is different to mine. Or maybe only some of us can bring about the change. I have no clues as to what is going on but you must admit, this is nothing like the others."

He was even considering consulting the Volturi but one thing held him back. He was not sure that the decades he had spent with those leaders would hold in his favor, or whether the fact he had eventually left had erased any goodwill earned. And Aro was always strict.

Carlisle had seen him rip apart humans that were not changing as they should.

To the Volturi, there were no grey areas.

He couldn't let Edward's human die like that, so brutally, especially as, for all he knew, she may possibly still feel every pain.

But how long could he let things sit? She was dying, that was not in question, her heart was slowing, her pulse was poor, weak and thready, but how it would end, he had no idea.

"Edward, please answer me."

His son looked at him and his eyes smoldered.

"No. She is fine. Go away. She's mine."

He left and went to where the rest of the family were gathered.

"Anything, Alice? Any sign? Any vision? I just need something."

Alice held her head in her hands and looked at him gravely.

"All I see still is two possible outcomes. She dies, as in, dies. Or she is changed. I see her running through the forest with Edward, shining in the sunlight, looking quite amazing.

On the other hand, the other vision shows her lying like this, for months, not moving. But her body isnt...there's no nice way to say it. Her body doesn't decompose."

"And Edward? How does he react to the worser vision?"

"He is still sitting beside her."

"So, he could be facing an eternity just poised at her side and she may never come out of this...coma. Whatever."

"He won't leave her side and he won't give up."

"You need to come down to the cottage and explain this to him. Emmett, Jasper, if he won't hunt, then you need to hunt for him."

"There's fresh bottles in the fridge," Emmett replied and Carlisle stood and walked to the fridge and selected a few.

"Okay, keep this fridge full. More blood, a lot of blood. I don't know what will happen but if Bella awakens, she will be thirsty and she may not be capable of hunting. She may be weak and damaged, I just don't know. I have to consider every possible outcome, despite Alice's visions."

"She just disappeared. The wolves are at the door. Literally. The only explanation is, the shapeshifters are nearby."

The vampires headed down to Edward's abode and surrounded it. A dozen large wolves circled around them, growling. One with a strangely long coat stepped forward and in seconds, a naked jacob Black stood before them.

"Have you killed her? Kindly, properly, because that is more acceptable than making her into one of your kind."

"We don't know, Jacob. She was fatally injured, Edward had no choice. We were hunting up in Canada and he raced back as fast as he could, when he picked up her distress call, beating us all back. He tried to save her and make her like us. She isnt responding as normal.

"Normal!" he snorted. "You things don't have any right to even use that word. There's nothing normal about you."

"We did what we thought best. She didn't want to die."

"She said that? She asked you to save her?"

"She asked Edward to save her," Alice replied firmly.

"So, she knew what she was asking? She knew what you are and what she would become?"

Edward appeared at the doorway and faced Jacob. "She knew very little, I did plan to explain everything to her but we ran out of time. I couldn't just let her die."

"But it isn't working?"

Edward shrugged and looked down at the ground. "It isn't working like it usually does, but we have little experience, Carlisle has only created four of us. Maybe we reacted differently, and she is reacting normally? How would we know?"

Carlisle knew. He had witnessed many changings and they had all been the same. Three days of burning, screaming, begging then the final intense pain and it was done or the victim died.

The few that had deviated, Aro had finished himself, screaming in frustration, confused as to why some of them just stayed in this sleeping state.

Carlisle remembered the feelings he had experienced watching his master rip apart the beautiful bodies.

Oh, they had all been female.

He hadn't thought of that before.

He had never seen a single male human enter this state, they either changed or died.

"She may just need more time. Bella exhibited some strange abilities when she was human. Edward somehow linked into her mind and saw her entire life. Including memories she could not have had herself. They started with her moving down the birth canal, no human has ever remembered that before and she didn't have those memories when she was...conscious, I guess you would say. She had the ability to let a vampire, who could not access her mind normally, inside her brain itself. Those images would be there, just people cannot access them."

"So, what does that mean?" Jacob asked.

"He wants us to kill her. Or he will kill her himself," Edward cried out.

Carlisle held his hands out, as if keeping two boys apart when they wanted to fist fight.

"I think from the few cases I have seen myself, it means she needs more time. Maybe weeks or even months. I can't explain why but I have seen this before, in Italy."

"And those humans turned out to be just regular bloodsuckers in the end?" Jacob questioned.

Carlisle shook his head.

"They were never allowed the opportunity. Like you, our leaders wanted them destroyed. So they killed them, took their lives. Showed no compassion or patience."

"I want to see her," Jacob growled.

Edward scanned his mind. He would not kill her alone. Because of who she was, who Charlie was, he would need her death sanctioned by the elders of the tribe first. But they wanted him to see her for himself.

Edward stepped back and Jake entered the house and went straight to where the girl lay.

"Still breathing and she has a heartbeat," he said, looking sadly at his friend.

"Was it really that bad? She couldn't have been saved by human medical means?"

"She had every single bone in her body broken. Her spine...it was like holding a puppet whose strings were slack, she just lay there, so broken," Edward cried in anguish.

"Tell me if you really believe there is any hope," Jake asked, hope in his own voice. He revealed in that one question the truth. He wanted her saved in any form.

"Jacob, I know you love her as I do. We owe her time, if nothing else. She may still just slip away from us, but while there is the slightest chance, don't we want to give her the gift of trust and patience? You can come and sit with her too. I have no objections to that. But I will die before I let any of you destroy her. My whole family will fight your pack to the death to save her."

"Relax, bloodsucker. I couldn't bring myself to kill her, one of the others would have to do that. But I will sit with her, for however long it takes to show she is still here, or ...otherwise. Stock up the pantry, I'm moving in."

The pack accepted Jacob's judgement and the Quileute changed back into his canine form and led them back home, informing Edward he would soon return, as a human and to get the spare bedroom made up. He listed his favorite foods and Edward related them to Esme, who went to shop and took Alice with her as a learning experience. She really should have done this decades before.

She spoke so quickly none of the humans heard her as she admonished her daughter for choosing shiny over the items on the list.

Edward held Bella in his arms as Rosalie changed the bedding, then the vampire settled her still body down again and went to pull on some clothes. If her temperature changed, he would not hesitate to strip in front of the shapeshifter and lie beside her again but as Jake was returning in his human form, it seemed that was the way to go.

Two 'humans', both keeping vigil over the girl they both loved.

Emmett and Carlisle installed a second fridge and Jake walked out to the kitchen and shrugged.

"I don't eat that much, he doesn't eat at all, why two?"

"Edward refuses to leave her side to go hunting, he is surviving on bottled...sustenance."

"Deer's blood?" Jake checked. "Not human blood, right?"

Carlisle nodded but it struck a chord. Maybe Bella needed sustenance as well. And maybe, being a newborn in the making, human blood would be what she craved. She had gotten thinner already, just in the last few days.

He left and drove to the hospital and announced the blood supplies were tainted and needed to be replaced urgently, then brought the bags of human blood home and sat beside the sleeping beauty.

Her appearance was changing, that was a positive sign. Her hair was getting longer and darker, her fingernails now sat half an inch out from her fingertips, it was as if she was living several months in just a week.

He detected the additional heartbeat first, but Edward was at her side instantly, his hand on her abdomen.

"It's not possible," he stated.

Jake looked from one stoneface to the other.

"What? What's happening?"

Carlisle lay a hand beside Edward's.

"Bella is pregnant."

Jake recoiled. "Fucking Newton! Was it Mike Newton?" he growled.

Carlisle looked at his son and smiled.

"No, Jake. This fetus is half vampire, I can smell that. Can't you?"

Jake paused and sniffed the air and growled. "But she rejected you. How..?"

"She didn't always reject me, sometimes she welcomed me," Edward replied levelly.

"And she's asleep because she's pregnant?" Jake asked Carlisle.

The vampire smiled. Could it really be that simple? The reason those women had been forcibly changed in Italy was because they had consorted with vampires. Had they not been killed by Aro, maybe they would have gone on to give birth to hybrids?

"I think you are right, Jacob Black. Bella is asleep because her body needs to adapt to this rapidly developing fetus and she would possibly suffer and be in pain if she was awake. We need to keep her fed and look after her, maybe this can all end well. We'll give it our best shot."

He fetched the human blood and opened Bella's mouth, putting the end of the tube onto her tongue and she moved slightly and moaned, and began sucking on the tube thirstily.

"Crap, I'm going to barf," Jacob exclaimed.

"Why? You eat animals when you are a wolf. This isn't much different."

"I don't eat humans, that is not animal blood," he growled.

"It's what Bella is most likely needing. She's pregnant with a half vampire. Vampire's drink blood. If we want to keep them alive, we need to feed them both. For Bella, we are just taking away the middle step and saving her having to turn food into blood herself. For the fetus, it's what he or she craves and needs."

Jake sat down and held out a hand above Bella.

"May I?" he asked Edward, who nodded.

Jake placed his hand on the slightly protruding abdomen and narrowed his eyes.

"Bella's baby. That's kind of cool, if it wasn't half bloodsucker. I can detect it's aura, I guess you would call it. But it feels..happy. friendly. Not cold like you."

Edward entered the man's mind and smiled. "I can feel it too. That's amazing."

Carlisle took back the empty blood bag and fetched another. Bella had sucked it dry and objected slightly to it's loss.

He gave her another and she slowed when it was three quarters finished. It seemed two pints was the required dose, now he just had to find out how often she wanted to feed.

"I'll return in four hours and see if she's hungry again. I can trust you two to play nice?" he checked. Emmett was only feet away, lying outside on the sandy edge of the water feature, shining all colors of the rainbow in the sun and Rosalie was reading a pile of gossip magazines and relating tidbits she was interested in.

They would be on guard until Jasper and Alice came to relieve them. At the moment, those two were checking the forest, keeping watch for any return of the wolves.

Esme sat down and held her mate's hand.

"We need a cover story for Charlie. This could take months, what are we going to do?"

"I'll steal a notebook from her bedroom, she must have written something down and you could forge her writing. She could pack and leave on some assignment. Overseas. Out of range of her cell phone. She's bound to have a fairly basic one that can't be used between continents."

He left and was back quickly. He handed his wife a journal.

"She's written in this, just copy her handwriting. I've written a draft of what to say."

He handed over a page from his prescription pad and Esme nodded. It sounded plausible. Victoria needed Bella to go to Paris to gather factual information about small cafe's and restaurants and out of the way hotels where the fictional lover in their book would take his women to make love.

Esme forged the note and she returned to the Swan house with Carlisle while Charlie was on a shift and packed Bella's bags.

Carlisle frowned at the unopened mail on the kitchen table as he added the note from Bella to the pile.

"Alice sent this?"

"Oh, that would be the Thank You card with the winning lotto ticket," Esme explained. "They wanted to make Charlie financially stable so when Edward convinced Bella to want to change and be with him forever, she would know her father was secure without her income."

"Just in a nick of time, then."

"We should deposit however much she normally would into the household accounts, seeing he can't contact her, therefore she wouldn't know he had won this."

"Not just a pretty face," Carlisle smiled and kissed his mate.

They stored Bella's belongings away in the space above the ceiling in case their house was searched and carlisle went back to sit with the patient.

Esme lay on their bed and pulled out Bella's journal again from under the mattress.

"Heathcliff," she sighed, and read on.


	13. Chapter 13

Interlude With A Vampire

Chapter 13

Edward left Bella's side only to pace the floor randomly, needing an outlet for the tension in his body.  
>"Go and hunt, feed, murder animals," Jake suggested. He tried to stay will Bella every waking moment and ate his meals straight from the fridge, not caring if the meat was cooked or not. Esme often came down to prepare his meals but if she was out on a blood run to the nearby hospitals, Jake was happy to turn into his other form and eat the meat raw.<br>Edward had been amazed at how the Quileute had no problem just transforming in front of his natural enemy but then, the stakes had changed.  
>Their egos and convictions they shared, that each was the stronger of the two and could take down the enemy, had faded into just mutual concern for Bella.<p>

Her body was changing in subtle ways, everyday and that made it somehow easier for Jacob than had she simply gone straight from human to vamp, in much the same way as he went from human to wolf.  
>Her hair was shiny and so long now, and no longer kinked at all, it was as if Alice was sneaking in with the hair straightener every day.<br>Her skin was paler, who would have thought that possible, but now it was milky white and had not one single mark of any kind to mar it's perfection. No freckles, no moles, no blemishes at all.  
>Her body looked firmer, leaner and stronger except for the lump protruding from her waist.<br>Both Jake and Edward were fascinated watching an arm or leg push against the outside skin of her belly, and Edward would often smile and reach for his child's foot or hand.  
>It did radiate calm and Edward was sure this would end well.<p>

Up until the day the baby talked to him for the first time.

Carlisle had just provided Bella with another bag of blood, now she was eating every two hours.  
>Edward had taken time out to shower, more for just something to do, than any need. Jacob had run out into the forest to hunt, amusing Rosalie no end. Now she could throw the 'animal murderer' title back in his face.<br>He needed to check on the status of the pack and he could only communicate with them in wolf form, so he'd decided a nice fresh snack would be a treat to break the monotony.  
>Edward heard the baby's cries of protest from the bathroom and ran back to Bella.<br>She was writhing, uncomfortable and he feared the fetus would snap her bones if this kept up.  
>"No, not that blood. I need nice blood. Get me nice blood," the child's words echoed in Edward's brain.<br>He frowned and placed a hand on the protuberance to calm the baby.  
>"Carlisle, it wants 'nice blood'. Maybe it prefers animal blood after all?"<br>Carlisle shrugged and fetched a bottle of Emmett's latest batch and poured some into a lidded beaker and help it to Bella's lips. She drank, slowly, her brown creased, and her throat reluctant to swallow this down.  
>The baby protested again, almost the minute the blood hit it's supply through the placenta.<br>"No, nice blood, nice blood," it screamed.  
>Edward was unsure what 'nice blood' could be and he related the baby's words to his family.<br>"It's a hybrid, so maybe it needs different blood to a vampire. But what blood would that be?" Carlisle mused. He was concerned, the child was far superior in strength to Bella and could rip her body apart if it so desired to.

Jacob returned through the French doors and shook his coat dry, water drops splashing around, hitting Rosalie, who snarled and took a defensive stand.  
>"Relax, Honey, he'd just a dog," Emmett crooned. "Hey, that's a thought. You know how the human ladies like having a husband but they also like having a pet dog?"<br>Rose shrugged.  
>"Well, had Bella chosen Jake, she could have had both in one. A man in her bed, then a dog to lie across the end of it when she was done with him."<br>Rose slapped him, her hand booming against his skull. Emmett never moved, and he waved his hands as if shooing off a mosquito.  
>"Oh sorry, Babe, did you hit me? I didn't feel a thing."<br>Rose growled warningly and Emmett immediately altered his face to a look of contrition.  
>"Though that flow of air when you smacked me was quite annoying," he cajoled. "it<br>was almost a breeze..I mean, hurricane, that's it."  
>Jacob transformed and Alice held out his jean shorts, looking everywhere else but there, whereas Rose stared openly and her pupils dilated and she briefly felt she should be nicer to the wolfman. I mean, he was built.<p>

Hung like a wolf.

She shook her head and cleared the image from her brain but it kept popping back in.  
>Edward couldn't help smirking at the complete 180 degree change, she went from loathing to being quite intrigued.<br>Jake clearly read her face and he laughed out loud.  
>"Hey, Rose, once you've gone 'Black' you can't go back," he winked.<br>Rose blushed and turned away as Emmett frowned and wondered what was going on.  
>Jacob placed his hand on the thrashing infant and it stilled instantly, annoying Edward whose touch had done little to calm it this time.<br>"I want his blood. The nice blood," the baby trilled. "I can smell it."  
>"It wants Jacob's blood?" Edward exclaimed.<br>"Edward, how mature do you think the fetus is?" Carlisle asked. "I think we have to consider delivering it soon. Will it survive? Ask it."  
>"If I have the nice blood for a week, I can be born," the fetus replied and Edward related the message.<br>Jake paled under his coffee skin and faced Carlisle.  
>"How much would it need? Like, just a pint, right?"<br>"I think we should try that initially and see," the doctor replied and motioned for Jake to follow him.  
>He inserted the needle and checked the blood was flowing freely into the bag as Jake tensed and looked ill.<br>"Shut you eyes, and picture the baby being made all healthy and Carlisle being able to take it out of Bella so she can get well again," Alice trilled softly and held Jake's hand. He didn't flinch. Of all the bloodsuckers, if he had a favorite, it would be Alice.  
>Bella sipped warily then positively enthusiastically and cried out when the pint was gone.<br>The fetus kicked happily then settled down to sleep once Jake's blood hit it's system and Carlisle checked Bella's vitals and sighed in relief.  
>"That was close, it nearly tore her apart inside, but it's happy now. Jake, I need to take more, to stockpile, I have no idea how long it will work at keeping the hybrid satisfied. You need to hunt several times a day and I need to bleed you. For Bella's sake."<br>The magic words.

The only words that would ever make this distasteful process acceptable to him.  
>Edward scanned the wolf's mind and was shocked to see the man would die for Bella. Of course, if his own death saved hers, he would gladly die for her too, but he was amazed at the unselfishness and true love this creature held for Bella.<br>True, he had seen Jake occasionally wonder if the pack would have to kill the infant after it was born , but he always had the same thoughts about Bella. She would not die while he could do anything at all to save her life.

X~x~X

The days passed and Edward kept at her side, sad her aroma was fading and being replaced by an altogether different smell. No doubt the blood intake was taking over her own blood supply. And she felt harder, firmer, less human day by day. He would miss her aroma and warm softness.  
>He was in constant contact with his baby. It was growing even faster on Jake's blood and Bella's body was stretched to breaking point.<br>She was getting restless and crying out in her sleep now.  
>Carlisle had just knelt to feed her when Edward heard the cry.<br>"We have to get it out, now. It's ready and it's panicking because it's instinct is to rip Bella apart and kill her, in order to be born."  
>"I need to get more blood from Jake, this is the last lot," Carlisle cried back.<br>"No time, no time," Edward panicked.  
>"Just do it straight from me to her," Jake suggested, grabbing the tubes and needle kit and handing it to Carlisle.<br>"Jake, I'll have no control. She could take too much blood from you."  
>"Do it," Jake yelled, sliding the needle into a vein much used already.<br>Carlisle inserted the needle on the other end of the tube straight into Bella's arm and Edward  
>ripped off the nightdress Bella was dressed in.<br>"What are you doing? I'll get my scalpel, it's just a c section," Carlisle stated.  
>"No, it has to now, it has to be this way. The sac is vampire skin, the baby told me."<p>

Edward bit roughly and blood spurted all directions.  
>Jake dry retched and Alice gently turned his face away as the high pitched scraping filled the air and Edward handed a yelling, indignant, human looking infant to his father and started licking away the blood, sealing Bella's wounds.<br>"It was what I wanted," Jake assured Alice and she frowned and held his hand tighter.  
>The infant screamed on and on, and Edward worked frantically, trying to instigate the final process to save Bella. The bed resembled a war zone, carnage everywhere, and so much blood. Who knew one person contained so much blood?<br>Suddenly, it was done, and the blood stopped flowing and her body healed in front of their eyes.  
>Bella's eyes blinked but she was drowsy and still mainly asleep and Edward leaned in, wiping his mouth and kissing her, his lips still blood splattered.<p>

Alice scooped the wolfman up into her arms and leapt out the window and Jasper frowned and followed.  
>"He's dead," Alice mouthed, reciting poetry in her head.<br>"What?" Jasper mouthed back.  
>"No blood, she took it all."<br>"Its a girl, how amazing," Esme said from inside and Alice laid Jacob down and softly kissed his eyelids.  
>"There's nothing to be done. He's dead," she repeated.<br>Jasper took up the wolfman's body and carried it into the middle of the dense, damp forest and lit it on fire, piling leaves and sticks from drier locations under tree roots on top to feed the flames.  
>The flames shone brightly rainbow hued and he looked at his mate.<br>"He was more like us than we ever realised," he said and Alice knew, had she been capable, she would have shed tears for this man.  
>"He knew he would die but he did so willingly. He died for the woman he loved," Alice whispered into the wind.<br>Edward appeared, aghast, and he took in the scene instantly.  
>"Jacob's dead?" he cried.<br>"She took all his blood."  
>"Bella killed him? She can never know," Edward howled.<br>"No, the baby. She took all his blood," Alice corrected him.

X~x~X

Bella took almost an entire day to wake up completely, she dozed in between slowly taking in her surroundings and Edward sat by her side and wiped her brow and kissed her face.  
>"We had to do this. I had to change you. You are like me now, like us."<br>Bella seemed oddly calm and Edward placed the baby in her arms and the two locked gazes.  
>"My daughter," Bella whispered. She looked up at Edward.<br>"I know you are her father, there's no other possibility but why does she feel like Jacob's child, too?"  
>"Because we three all gave her life," he answered.<p>

She would have to know soon enough, but for now, she needed to rest and come to terms with her new form.  
>Rose lifted the baby from her and suggested Edward take Bella into the shower, and he complied, then he washed her beautiful long hair and dried it while brushing it free of knots.<br>Bella stood there, calmly, admiring herself in the bathroom mirror.  
>"Wow, so this is like some makeover? Is it permanent?"<br>"Very much so," Edward replied, helping her into the dress Alice had left on their bed.  
>"And I'm changed how? Into what? I look the same. Sort of. Like the beautiful twin of myself."<br>"I have so much to tell you," Edward smiled, running his hands over her body. Her aroma was back, stronger than before. Her skin felt soft, even softer than when she was human.  
>And now she felt warm to him, as he did to her.<br>At last, no need for spa baths and fakery. "Bella, I know you must have heard the stories. About vampires..."

Bella listened, and nodded now and then, then turned and faced Edward, smiling broadly.

"And I will never age. Never?"

"No," he assured her.

"And we will be together for eternity?"

"Yes, my love. We will."

"Then what more could I ask?"

X~x~X

The baby was never in the crib, always in the arms of one of her many fans. Esme was besotted, Carlisle was intrigued, Rosalie was jealous and stormed about cursing she had been changed before being changed herself.  
>Alice liked the baby and all but she had never regretted missing out on them. Jasper was her world and while she had him, nothing else mattered.<br>Emmett was a little afraid at first. Six pounds of delicate half human, seemed so incredibly tiny in his arms. He held her gingerly but she was stronger than she looked. Virtually unbreakable and he came to long to be her protector, as he walked her out in the forest and showed her their world.  
>Rose was absent, trying to learn how to control both sorts of jealousy. The envy that Bella had a baby, and the resentment that that infant held so much of Emmett's attention.<br>Edward warned his mate of the situation and Bella came up with a solution. A very human type solution.  
>She asked Rose to be the infants Godmother.<br>The baby was named for her grandparents, Renesmee Carlie, so they had been given that honor, Alice was in charge of the infants wardrobe and was sewing up tiny designer outfits each day, so Rose was the obvious choice.

Carlisle still worried.  
>Aro would be intrigued, but how much? Would he demand the infant be handed over to him? He could do that.<br>He would approve of Bella's change, seeing she had been so closely involved with the family and had to have detected the abnormalities they displayed, so now she was no threat.  
>But the infant was an unknown.<br>She fed happily on both deer blood or infant formula for humans, showing little preference.  
>She seemed to like the bottles contain milk one feed and blood the next.<br>She was alert but non speaking, in the tradition meaning of the word. She communicated easily still with her father, speaking directly into his mind and she could do the same with Bella.  
>That intrigued Edward.<p>

Bella was often so excited to impart some wondrous news of their child rolling over or sleeping for a whole four hours, she would forget and let him into her head as well, saving herself the effort of speaking aloud.  
>She could refuse him entry though, and seemed to have an automatic lock that she had to consciously open normally. More and more she was forgetting to turn the key and he enjoyed being inside her head almost as much as he had enjoyed being inside her body.<br>Naturally he was anxious to find out what vampire sex would be like, having heard so much of it in the house he had lived in for decades with his family, but thus far Bella had enough to cope with.  
>She was feeding from Emmett's 'wine' collection, not turning a hair but Edward knew he had to introduce her to actual hunting.<br>She had to know how to feed herself and not depend on anyone else.  
>That task would be the easiest to bring up of the three that lay in wait for her.<p>

Hunting.  
>Vampire love.<br>And coping with the news her best friend was not actually just avoiding her because she had just had the baby, like she thought.  
>Edward would cope with the first, it could be fun.<br>He would relish the second, and make her truly his mate.  
>The third task he had no clue how to handle at all. The fact was, Jacob had been killed by a damphyr if not an actual vampire.<br>Their daughter.


	14. Chapter 14

Interlude With A vampire

Chapter 14

Edward rolled around the ground, laughing, as Bella timidly grasped the deer and slid off it's back.

"You have to hold it firmly and bite into it's neck as soon as possible," he explained again, showing her.

She reluctantly approached, screwing up her face. "Sorry, Bambi's mom."

She hesitated and Edward growled. "This animal died for you, Bella. At least feed from it and make it's sacrifice worthwhile."

She nodded and bit down properly and gasped as the blood poured into her mouth.

"Nice," she choked, swallowing it down. She drank deeply, only stopping when the beast was empty.

"That's so much better than the bottled stuff," she said in amazement.

"Who was right?" Edward skited. "Now, this time, you have to catch your own. Forget Bambi, think dinner."

Bella sprang and landed on the large male deer's back and leaned towards it's throat as if to kiss it.

The animal wilted as her teeth sliced into it's skin and she sucked it dry and fell with it to the forest floor.

"Excellent. How do you feel?"

"Full. Sloshy," she replied, walking from the corpse.

Edward lifted a boulder and slid the creatures underneath. They would rot and become part of the forest again.

Alice appeared, with a new frock in hand and she shook her head at Bella's tattered silk rags.

"Bathe in the stream, then wear this. Good news, Bella. Charlie won the Lotto. He's rich."

Bella frowned and tried to picture Charlie in her head. Her human memories were fading so fast now.

"He never gambles. Not so much as a scratch card. He calls it voluntary extra tax."

"I think it was a gift from some motorist he helped a while ago. The man never opens his mail," Alice sighed. "He could have had this money ages ago."

"Where does he think I am?" Bella asked.

"Paris. You are probably going to meet and marry a dashing Frenchman and gradually lose contact with anyone here in Forks," Alice replied.

"He'll miss me. He will be lonely," Bella stated.

"Actually, before he found out he had won, he tried the free introductory offer at the Brandon Matchmaking Agency and met a very nice lady. Of course, he already knew her but on the internet, they were more open and honest with one another. And things were already pretty hot and heavy last time I passed his house. Blinds closed in his bedroom, condensation on his window."

"Too much information," Bella growled.

"Oh, I should go," Alice said, winking at Edward as he disrobed and walked into the stream with Bella. "Definitely don't want to watch this," she stated.

Edward swam lazily around in the deeper water and Bella swan to meet him and surprised him by pulling herself in for a kiss, then throwing her legs around his waist and forcing him to impale her.

"Bellaaaa," he sighed as she moved effortlessly against him.

"You can be rough with me now," she smirked and Edward thrust his hips in so hard the old human Bella would have snapped and broken.

She pounded back, just as hard and the water around them swirled and thrashed as they moved together, strong and energetically.

She shook first, vibrating all along his shaft and Edward cried out into the forest as she took him over the edge with her. They both paused then it hit them simultaneously. No need.

They weren't even slightly tired by the actions.

They could just continue, and do it again.

Bella moved off him and crouched on all fours in the water and Edward flew up behind her and pushed inside, grabbing her shoulders and rocking so the water formed little waves that built up in intensity and crashed against the rocks, like surf into a shore.

"Bella, Bella, Bella," he screamed and she appeared inside his head.

"_Shh, you will scare the animals. Just scream inside here, I will hear you."_

Edward had to put effort into silencing his mouth. He had never imagined anything quite as wild and carefree as this.

"B_e an animal. Be my wild animal lover,"_ Bella coaxed and Edward grasped her breasts and squeezed them in a way it had never been possible to do before. Such force she almost cried out loud herself, as the sensation travelled from her nipples to her inner core, which was suddenly so much more than it had been before. Now every cell was involved, and even her skin tingled and radiated need as he pounded her.

He grabbed her and flipped her body to face him, inside again before she even felt his absence and he rolled them out of the stream onto the leaves.

Bella threw her arms out above her head and watched her mate as he lifted her feet and placed them on his shoulders and pushed himself inside her so closely and tightly she didn't even have to make an effort at all.

He was magnificent, so strong, so feral, so demanding.

So much better at this now, and she had never had any complaints before, but now he was making love to every inch of her body as it screamed for relief.

"Edward," she pleaded in a whisper, and birds flew from trees and she realised her whispered had been a scream.

He palmed her breasts, kissed her lips, and ploughed inside her until she couldn't even scream any more.

He came so hard she would have feared of being split in half except now she was the stronger mate.

He rammed her again and looked into her eyes.

"Take it, take all of me," he dared her.

She bucked back, so hard he wavered for a moment, then returned as much as she had given, pushing her into the grass, pounding her as she cried in delight continuously.

"How do we stop? How do we ever stop?" she cried.

Edward smirked. "No need, we can be here for days." He felt his venom fill her again and grabbed her ankles.

She twisted from his grasp and flew to his side, pushing him down.

She placed his hands around two slim but sturdy tree trunks and glared at him.

"You are tied to those trees and can't move or let go."

She grabbed a scrap of rag from her last dress and bound his eyes.

Then she crouched between his ankles and touched him lightly, with featherlike touches, up towards his very impressive package, which she leaned into kiss. He tasted amazing and she changed her mind and freed his hands from their imaginary bonds and stood him against a strong looking tree.

"I've tied you to the tree. No struggling."

He smiled and she dropped down to a crouch and took his length inside her mouth, and deep into her throat.

Oh, no gag reflex, that was good.

Edward moaned and thrust deeply and Bella reached for the rest of his package and massaged it so gently it was the very opposite of his actions.

"Fuck me, fuck me," he chanted and Bella sucked harder, and felt him explode. Swallowing was nothing, even though he streamed inside her throat somewhat endlessly. It just didn't matter now.

She could taste him , so delicious and it triggered another want.

She flew to his side and pulled him down on top of her, but with his head placed just where she wanted it, between her thighs.

Edward grabbed her legs and help them apart and bit down on her, alternately licking then biting as Bella wondered if it was possible to just go stark staring mad from pleasure.

He lifted her effortlessly, his mouth still working in place and she reached up and held onto a branch above her head and hung there, legs akimbo, vampire between them, feet on his shoulders and her knees bent.

She could manoeuvre herself to the best position on his tongue and he thrust that tongue just as hard as he had thrust his shaft and she felt herself release into his mouth and heard him lap at her juices. She had no hang ups, she knew from where she was, inside his head, that she tasted of ambrosia and he wanted all she could give him.

Surely they would tire?

She came again and slumped a little then she suddenly jumped to the ground, throwing her dress on and untying his blindfold.

"Wolves," she warned and Edward redressed instantly and turned to face them.

"Where is he buried?" demanded the lead wolf.

Edward forgot his mate was now inside his head and he quickly described the heroic death and the ceremonial burning of his body and waved at the forest.

_His ashes are everywhere, spread by the wind, he is part of the forest now._

Bella cried out and fell to the ground.

Edward lifted her into his arms.

"He died for Renesmee as well as you, my love. He wouldn't have wanted to exist in a world where you didn't.

He decided. He could have ripped out the tube but he knew his Fate was always to save you and our baby. He died a heroes death."

Bella lay in their bed the whole night, telling Edward of her childhood with Jacob, painting a picture of their friendship that was now as eternal as their own love.

She had endless stories to relate and he absorbed every word, getting to know even more about her as she spoke of Jacob.

There had been love, a strong and powerful love, between them just not as strong as the love he shared with her.

By morning she just wanted her baby back in her arms and she related the same stories to Renesmee as she carried her around the yard.

She hoped some how, some way, Renesmee would understand how deeply Jake's love had been for them both.

Enough to die for.

X~x~X

Edward watched her in the yard from the back window of the Cullen's house.

"He's coming here himself. Aro, the one who never leaves Italy. You know that never happens, Edward. I don't know what to advise. Of course we will all protect her."

"Die for her, like Jacob," Edward murmured.

"Let's hope it never comes to that."

The family were tense and Alice announced as the Volturi approached, closer and closer.

"I'm smelling some humans with them. Women," Emmett stated.

"You are right, but they are coming willingly. They aren't snacks," Jasper replied.

Carlisle opened the front door as Edward left by the back.

He knew there was nowhere to hide.

He took the baby from Bella's arms and led his mate into his father's house silently.

"Bella, this is Aro. I explained about him."

Bella bowed and Aro took her hand.

The look on his face was priceless.

Nothing.

Nobody could hide their thoughts from Aro.

Yet she was doing just that.

"Edward," he growled and Edward gave his hand to his leader.

Aro smiled and turned to his entourage.

"it's true. Edward has a child. This baby here was conceived before he changed the lovely Bella. She incubated it while undergoing a very slow transformation. He delivered it himself and saved them both."

Edward frowned, clearly Jacob Black did not register with Aro. He could not have appeared in a form the leader could recognise.

"She lost a lot of blood but she made it through."

"And now my dear friend Carlisle will oversee the conception and incubation of my own child," Aro stated proudly.

"These women are to be the 'mothers', we will fetch more if needed. If we run out before a live baby is delivered from one of them."

Carlisle turned to Alice.

"We will lose the first two mothers, but his daughter , from the second woman, survives. The third will give him a son and you will save both mother and baby," Alice said, in vampire speed to spare the volunteers hearing.

She nodded at the tall, red headed Irish woman.

She would be the only one to walk away and travel back to Italy, as mother of both his children.

Aro clapped his hands.

"This will mean your entire family are now protected by the Volturi, forever. You will never be asked to participate in any conflicts and rogue vampires will be removed immediately they enter this vicinity. Felix and Demetri will take charge of that. They quite like Washington.

No doubt you will move on in time. They will go wherever you roam and settle and call home."

"Thank you, Aro," Carlisle replied. "We have no idea how these babies will grow and develop."

"There has been one before. Marcus' child, Micah. He hid the mother from me during her prolonged change but sadly the infant tore her apart at birth but he survived. He grew normally, much as a human child, and hid his strength and powers until he turned seventeen. That seems to be the magical age. Then he was pure vampire.

I've tried to have my own children but the women all died and took my children with them. I am pleased it will be different this time. A girl as well as a boy. How fascinating. So, there will be two of each gender in the world."

Edward shrugged.

"So, my daughter will be safe?"

"Of course, Edward. As if I would let any harm befall the future bride of my future son."

"I guess we will see about that when the time comes," Edward replied.

Alice smiled.

"It will all work out for the best. And they will have children themselves with no danger to mother or child."

"You should all come to Italy. We are trying the strange diet, our zoo is almost depleted but I've ordered the humans to grow deer for us. So much more appetizing than overweight humans. It's a worldwide epidemic, you know. All those takeaway meals they consume. We are going 'green' and healthy. I've outlawed humans as a food source for any of our kind.

Of course, at the moment some of our kind are finding it hard to make the change so I still have miscreants to destroy. You know how much I enjoy my hobby, Carlisle. They'll all be obeying my command by the time you lovely Cullens' join us."

Edward always knew it would end this way, Aro had always wanted Carlisle back , and to have Alice and himself in his 'little family' and from what Alice saw, it would be the best solution. Who would have ever imagined his daughter would one day marry the new ruler of the vampires?

He took Bella's hand.

"We should enjoy our time here even more then."

"See you in Italy, kids," Aro laughed. It would be so good to hand over the reins to the next generation, at last.

THE END


End file.
